


Against the Odds

by Blueskydancers



Series: Secrets and Consequences [16]
Category: The Equalizer, The Lord of the Rings - All Media Types, The Lord of the Rings RPF
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-24
Updated: 2016-04-18
Packaged: 2018-05-15 23:43:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 22,443
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5804935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Blueskydancers/pseuds/Blueskydancers
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's December 1984 and Sean and Orlando have decided to take a trip to New York City for Christmas. They want to get away from the crap that has surrounded them for the past few years and just have some time to be themselves, except they end up in the wrong place at the wrong time...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This story is a crossover between my Secrets & Consequences Universe and The Equalizer, a TV show which ran between 1985 and 1989. 
> 
> I discovered fan-fiction in the late 1990s, just at the end of the era of fanzines, and began writing EQ fanfic with Adrienne who became a good friend even though she lived in NYC and we were on opposite sides of the Atlantic. 
> 
> Ade passed away in October 2009 following an incredibly heroic three and a half year fight against cancer. One of the last emails that passed between us was about this idea for a story so I would like to dedicate this Christmas story to her to thank her for her friendship and her determination to make me a better writer.
> 
> For those unfamiliar with The Equalizer, it starred Edward Woodward as Robert McCall, a former agent of an organization, called "The Company", who tries to atone for past sins by offering, free of charge, his services as a trouble-shooter, a protector, and an investigator. People in need find him through a newspaper ad: "Got a problem? Odds against you? Call the Equalizer."
> 
> Aided by a group of contacts (some of whom date back to his spying days), McCall travels the streets of New York City, visiting justice upon hoodlums, rapists, racists, murderers, kidnappers, drug dealers, and other truly deserving people.

**New York City - December 1984**  
Admiring his lover’s arse in his tight black jeans, Sean followed Lan into the club. The sheer enormity and garishly tasteless décor of the room they entered took his breath away, and the loud percussive thump from the bass notes of the music that was playing seemed to pulse in time with his heartbeat. The next thing to hit him was the heat. He could understand why a lot of the club’s clientele were naked from the waist up when he finally managed to drag his eyes away from the surroundings. Glad he’d chosen to dress casually in faded denim and a black t-shirt, Sean shook his head in amazement. Visiting a couple of gay clubs in Bristol had done nothing to prepare him for the unrestrained debauchery that was New York’s Studio 54.

Ahead of him, Lan’s white shirt glowed intermittently in the flashing UV light show. He half turned and Sean caught a flash of bright white teeth as Lan’s face split into a massive grin.

“It’s fucking brilliant here, isn’t it?” Lan shouted over the noise of the music.

Sean nodded but, as he abruptly became aware of the interested looks from the men standing around them, he pulled Lan backwards until they were standing back to chest. Exaggerating his movements to emphasise that he and Lan were together, Sean allowed his mouth to ghost over Lan’s ear before he answered, “As long as these buggers keep their hands to themselves.”

Turning in his arms Lan wound his arms around Sean’s neck and smiled at him fondly. “Idiot. You know I’m not interested in any of them.”

"I know that but they don't look as though they do." Sean glared at the men milling around them. After nearly four years together, he trusted Lan implicitly and they were both aware his gruff complaints were mainly for show.

Lan's lips brushed over his and he said, "Just relax. We came here to enjoy ourselves.”

Winding an arm around Lan's waist, Sean pulled him into another kiss, this one deeper. When his tongue sought entrance, Lan opened to him, joining in the leisurely kiss with his usual enthusiasm. When Sean finally broke their connection, they were both out of breath.

Giving him a knowing smile, Lan licked his lips and said, "I want to dance."

Realising with resignation, that to keep a close eye on Lan he would need to join him on the dance floor, Sean gestured for him to go first. He hated dancing but was willing to make a fool of himself if it meant he was able to hold his lover openly - not something that could happen too often at home. Fortunately, the area given over to dancing was heaving with men, moving together to the thumping music. Lan dancing was a thing of beauty and Sean felt like a clumsy oaf in comparison but seeing that no-one was paying him any undue attention he soon began to relax.

By the time Lan caught his arm and nodded towards the bar, indicating they should get some drinks, Sean was enjoying himself. He had no idea how much time had passed since they'd entered the club as he pushed his way through the even tighter packed crowd towards the bar. Lan had snagged his belt and was following closely. When Sean got to the bar it was as much as he could do not to stare at the men serving drinks. All of them were dressed the same, in minuscule black leather shorts, black leather braces and black boots.

He could hear Lan laughing when one of the barmen came to take his order. Sean ordered quickly without making eye contact, passing over some notes when four bottles covered in condensation were placed in front of him. Tilting his head at Lan he indicated they should find a slightly quieter space while they drank.

Following Lan, Sean carried two of the chilled bottles until they found a much quieter seating area. There was only one chair free so Lan pushed him into it and promptly sat on his lap, draining half of his first bottle of beer almost immediately.

"Bloody hell slow down or you’ll be on the floor. Besides, if I'd known you were going to drink it that fast I'd have bought six instead of four."

"Nah it's okay, I'll slow down with the next one. Anyway it’s American beer, weak as piss." Lan looked at him again and starting sniggering.

Sean looked at him suspiciously. "What are you laughing at?"

"You at the bar."

"Piss off."

"You looked a bit shocked."

Sean squirmed awkwardly. "Oh bollocks! I bet I looked like a right prat.”

"Nah, not really. It's only that I know you so well.”

“Shit! I was surprised, okay? I’m sure I would have noticed if they’d looked like that earlier on.”

“Anyway, what were you expecting?”

“I hadn’t thought about it, the same as at home I suppose.”

Lan swallowed more beer and wiped his mouth on the back of his hand. “Somehow I don't think a club in Bristol is ever going to compete with this.”

Sean nodded ruefully and wondered if that was necessarily a bad thing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A couple of hours later, Lan was standing at the bar, trying desperately to catch the eye of one of the bar staff. The servers weren’t hanging around but the club was now so full that there was a line three deep around the bar waiting to order drinks. Lan turned to look for Sean and when he finally spotted him, he was standing talking to an older man.

It took another five minutes for Lan to get their drinks and every time Lan looked over in his direction, Sean was still deep in conversation with the stranger.

Finally, walking up to Sean, Lan handed him two bottles. “There you go.”

“Thanks, love. Lan this is Carlos. Carlos, this is Lando, my partner.”

Lan held out his hand and Carlos shook it emphatically. “Good to meet you, Lando. Sean’s been telling me about you both and I want to congratulate you. Four years together is no mean thing today.”

Lan felt his face grow red, what he and Sean shared had always seemed so natural that he’d never really thought too much about it. It was also very strange for Sean to be so open with someone he didn’t know at all.

Carlos clapped his hand on Sean’s shoulder. “I’m going home now, I get pretty tired these days. It was good to meet you both.” He lowered his voice, “Remember what I said, Sean, look after this man of yours and stay away from the bathhouses.”

Confused but not wanting to ask too many questions now, Lan waited until Carlos had walked away. “What was that all about?”

Sean pulled Lan into his arms, the hand holding his beer curling around Lan’s waist. He pressed his mouth against Lan’s neck for a moment and then drew back. “I’ll tell you later, when we get back to the hotel. Now’s not really the time or place.”

Still puzzled, Lan shrugged, “Okay.” It wasn't worth making a big thing of it; he’d find out in due course, Sean never kept anything from him.

Sean’s hold tightened. “How about we go back to the hotel now?”

Realising that there was something more to Sean’s question, Lan nodded, “Yeah, okay.” Taking a large gulp of his beer, he put the bottle down on a convenient ledge and grabbing Sean’s hand pulled him towards the cloakroom so they could reclaim their coats.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As their hotel was less than ten blocks south from the club and there wasn’t a single cab in sight, they decided to walk. When they reached Times Square, even at well past two in the morning, it was still as crowded as it had been during the day, but the atmosphere was very different. Earlier there had been laughter, carol singers and happy Christmas shoppers, now the feeling was darker and more edgy. In his peripheral vision Sean could see deals being done and he knew that the items changing hands weren’t anything legal.

A sudden feeling of disquiet made him grab Lan’s arm and tug him on to walk a little faster. So maybe it was nerves or maybe he was still suffering from jet lag but when they came to cross 44th, Sean forgot which way the traffic was moving and stepped out into the street, right into the path of an oncoming car. The dark saloon was moving quickly and it was only Lan’s quick reactions, pulling Sean back against his chest, that saved him from getting hurt. As it was, they both ended up in a heap on the kerb with Sean landing on Lan’s lap while sitting, facing the street. The driver turned to look at Sean and in the light thrown by the street lamps Sean saw his face clearly. He also managed to see the number plate of the vehicle and it stuck in his head because of the last three letters: LAN.

“Sean! Are you okay?” Lan’s voice at his back cut through his daze and he stood quickly, pulling Lan up with him.

“Yeah, I’m fine. The car didn’t touch me. Would’ve been nice of the bugger to stop though, to make sure we were okay.”

Lan gestured at the people around them; none of them were paying any attention at all to their near miss. “I get the feeling that stuff like that is pretty common.”

“Yeah, maybe.” Sean shrugged again. “Well there’s no harm done. Let’s get going. It’s bloody cold.”

Lan pushed his hands into his jacket pockets. “Yeah, that sounds like a plan to me, I’m freezing.”

Regaining some of his previous good mood, Sean leered outrageously at Lan. "Get me back to the hotel and you won’t stay that way. I guarantee it!"

With a smug grin, Lan nodded. "Oh, that so sounds like it's going to be put up or shut up time, Bean." 

Grabbing Lan's arm, Sean started walking. "I can think of a good way to shut you up."

Matching strides Lan responded, "Since when has the threat of sucking you off ever been a deterrent for me?"

Sean felt himself grow hard at the knowing look in Lan's eye. Bloody hell, maybe one day he'd learn not to tease him. Mind you, the consequences were always good.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Looking up, from his position propped against the pillows on their hotel bed, Sean watched as Lan slowly bent his knees, lowering himself inch by delicious inch until he had taken Sean's cock completely inside his body.

Sean watched as Lan's eyes closed and his head tipped backwards, his mouth opening to let out a breathy moan of pleasure. The temptation to thrust upwards into the silken warmth was almost overpowering but Sean controlled himself. He wanted this to last.

Finally Lan opened his eyes and looked down at him, his head tilted in query.

"Just enjoying the view," Sean murmured. He moved his hips slightly causing Lan to let out a gasp.

"Jesus! Having you inside me like this feels incredible," Lan groaned. “I never want it to end.”

"For me too." Sean answered breathlessly.

Lan's cock was hard and leaking pre-come already. Knowing it wouldn't take much to make him come, Sean put his hand behind Lan's neck and pulled him forward so that their mouths met in a gentle kiss. Sean felt Lan's tongue twine with his as the kiss deepened and when they finally drew back, they were both panting.

Sliding a hand down Lan's back, Sean let his fingers explore his cleft until, with his finger tips, he could feel where his cock entered Lan's body. Collecting some of the lube around his entrance, Sean stroked the stretched pucker of skin, teasingly. Slowly and carefully he worked just the tip of his forefinger in alongside his cock, feeling Lan's breaths hot against his shoulder. Waiting until Lan had adjusted to the increased stretch, Sean pushed his finger in further. Moaning, Lan bucked against him, pushing down on his cock and finger, his own cock sliding wetly against Sean's stomach.

Keeping the movement going, Sean finger-fucked Lan until, with a cry, he came; his come spilling between them in a series of explosive bursts.

Lan was still shaking from his orgasm when Sean rolled them over. A little manoeuvring soon had Lan's legs locked around Sean's waist and, despite his restricted range of movement, he began to thrust forcefully into the quaking channel. The increased stimulation made Lan's cock fill quickly and he was soon moaning helplessly. Unbelievably turned on, Sean pounded into him, determined that his lover would come a second time.

"God, Sean, I'm so close again."

Resting his head on Lan's shoulder, Sean moved his hips faster, pounding into Lan's body, "Good. Come with me. Together. Now!"

With a cry of completion, Sean buried himself as deeply as possible inside Lan, filling him. It felt like he came for hours.

Exhausted he slumped down, covering Lan with his body and ignoring the stickiness between them.

His cock soon lost the fight to stay inside Lan so Sean rolled over onto his back. Lan didn't move but his hand found Sean's and their fingers clasped loosely. Unusually, their hotel room wasn't particularly warm so Sean finally found the energy to get up and wander into the bathroom. Once there he had a piss and after he had washed his hands, he dampened a wash cloth and cleaned himself off. Rinsing the cloth he squeezed it almost dry and took it with him back into the bedroom. There he threw it at Lan. It landed with a soft splat on his stomach.

Opening one eye, Lan grabbed the cloth and began to scrub half-heartedly at his stomach, dropping the cloth over the side of the bed once he was clean. Sean pulled the covers up over his shoulders as he curled up around Lan.

He closed his eyes and was just thinking about going to sleep when Lan’s voice interrupted him. “That guy tonight, Carlos. Who was he?”

It took a few moments for Sean to figure out what he meant but then he said, “I met him while I was waiting for you to get the drinks. He’d seen us dancing together and came up to talk to me.”

“Why?”

Sean chuckled. “Because he thought you were gorgeous and wondered why he’d never seen you there before. Then, once I opened my mouth, he realised I was a tourist and started to worry.”

Lan’s tone was sharper when he questioned, “Worry? Why was that?”

“He wondered if I knew about the virus that is going around amongst men like us. Apparently the club we were at tonight has always been one of the most popular places in the city to pick up guys for sex.”

“So?”

“He said that he used to go there a lot and was up for anything: group sex, drugs you name it, he tried it all and now he’s sick. A lot of his friends are too – those that aren’t dead. He wanted to make sure I wasn’t here to fuck around without taking precautions.”

“Oh.”

Sean pressed his lips to Lan’s shoulder. “Anyway, once I told him we knew about AIDS and were exclusive, he stopped worrying. He did warn me to stay away from the bathhouses though. Said that even though getting involved with other people wasn’t something we went for, it could happen. He said the safest thing was to steer clear.”

“It’s a bit rude though, to make assumptions like that about anyone.” Lan yawned around the words.

“Yeah, I know. Maybe he’s lost too many friends to have a sense of perspective about it.”

“Maybe.”

“Anyway it’s not something that’s going to cause us a problem.”

“No.”

The single word answers told Sean that Lan was almost asleep. As he lay there, thoughts of Carlos running through his head, he heard Lan’s breathing deepen and slow. In no time at all he'd drifted off himself.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sean's near miss the previous evening turns out to have consequences much more serious than they could have imagined.

The sound of running water filled the bathroom as Sean ran a comb through his damp hair. Raising his voice he said, "I'm going to watch the news while I wait."

"Okay." Lan's voice echoed from behind the shower curtain and around the tiled room, "I'll be as quick as I can."

Pulling at the covers on the second double bed in the room, Sean made it look as though the bed had been used. Then, he sat down on it and pointed the remote control at the TV in the corner of the room.

It came to life slowly and he flicked through the channels, moving on immediately from ones showing commercials. When he found what looked like a news broadcast he propped himself up with some pillows against the headboard, swung his feet up and made himself comfortable. He knew from experience it would take Lan at least fifteen minutes to get ready once he got out of the shower so he settled in to wait.

There were a couple of items of local news before the caption announced that he was watching Good Morning America. Sitting in the studio and facing the camera the news presenter looked serious as he returned to the morning’s main story. Introducing himself as David Hartman he outlined the latest developments in the news story that had broken the night before when an undercover police officer was shot and left in a critical condition. Being an ex-copper Sean sat up straighter and paid close attention. He managed to piece together what had happened. An officer called Ricky Falconi had been working undercover trying to expose a particularly nasty drugs ring. There were rumours that Falconi’s death had been ordered by senior figures in the gang. The report said that the shooter had escaped in a dark coloured sedan travelling east along 44th St at around two am.

Sean's mind began to work rapidly, 44th had been where he'd had his brush with the car last night. But it must have been a coincidence, there was no way he'd narrowly avoided being hit by a getaway car. On the other hand the driver hadn't stopped. At the time he and Lan had assumed the driver had been drinking, but maybe that wasn’t the case at all.

At that moment Lan appeared in the bathroom doorway, a white hotel towel wrapped around his waist. Sean was so caught up in the news report that he barely noticed.

Lan must have noticed his inattention because he said, "What's up?" as he came over and sat beside Sean.

"They're talking about a shooting that happened last night. An undercover cop was wounded. The getaway car was seen heading along 44th around two last night, the same time we were there."

Lan looked at him. "You think that was the car that nearly knocked you down?"

"I've no idea but it seems a bit of a coincidence, don't you think?"

"Maybe. But even if it was the car, I didn’t see a thing."

Sean sighed. "But I did. I got a clear look at the man driving."

"Could you describe him or pick him out if you saw him again?"

"Yeah, no problem."

Just then something on the screen caught Sean's attention. There was a phone number displayed and Hartman was appealing for anyone with information to contact the police immediately. He revealed that, in the past hour, Officer Falconi had died from his wounds in Lennox Hill Hospital. He also said that the car had been found abandoned. Forensic tests were being carried out to try to identify the driver. The licence plate was 5782 LAN and if anyone had seen the car before last night or around the time of the shooting, the Police were anxious for them to come forward. That settled it for Sean. He was now convinced that the man he had seen was involved in the shooting of Officer Falconi.

Sean looked over at Lan. "That was the car that nearly ran me down last night; I remembered the number plate because it was your name."

"You'd better make the call then, don't you think?"

Pulling Lan into his arms, Sean pressed a kiss to his neck. "I'm sorry about this. I didn't want to ruin our holiday."

Lan turned and pressed his fingers against Sean's mouth. "Don't be daft. We were both coppers and we know what it's like to lose friends. We simply don't have the luxury of choice."

Sean picked up the phone and began to dial the number on screen. "Ah, Lan?"

"Yeah?"

"You might want to get some clothes on before New York's finest decide to pay us a visit."

"But you like me in just a towel." Lan deliberately stretched out on the bed, lying on his side with his head supported by one hand. He let the other hand drift slowly over his chest.

Sean shook his head in exasperation. "Yeah, I do, but I prefer not to share."

With a snort of laughter, Lan rolled off the bed, grabbed a handful of clothing and walked into the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Lan walked back into the bedroom Sean had the phone pressed against his ear and he was talking into the mouthpiece. Lan couldn't hear what he was saying over the noise from the TV. He found the remote and switched off the TV and then sat down. Shortly afterwards Sean put the phone down and turned to face him. "I spoke to the detective in charge of the case. He's sending a car to pick us up within the hour."

"Did he sound interested in what you had to say?"

"Well, at first he was a bit dismissive. Turns out all the cranks have been calling in claiming to have seen something or admitting to the shooting. But after a while he seemed to take me seriously. He didn’t say but I think I’m the only reliable witness they have.”

Lan stretched his legs out in front of him, until his feet just about touched Sean's. "Umm… That sounds ominous. Did you tell him we're due to fly home tomorrow?"

"Yeah, he said that the first thing would be to have a chat and if they think I’ve got valuable information, they’d get me to make a statement and maybe look at some books of pictures. He didn’t seem to concerned that we were leaving so soon.”

“Maybe I can go and do some Christmas shopping while you’re with them? That way we won’t lose too much time.”

“Ah, sorry, Lan, they said they wanted to talk to you too as you saw the car and can confirm the time and the place.”

"Did you tell him we were ex-coppers?"

Sean shook his head. "Nah, something made me keep that quiet. He asked what I did for a living so I said I ran my own business. I didn't tell him we were together either."

Lan sensed something, that Sean was concerned. "What's wrong?"

"Not sure."

Lan stood abruptly and moved around the bed to stand in front of Sean who stood too, so that they were standing, waiting, toe to toe.

"What's the matter? You're worrying me, Sean."

Sean pulled him closer and Lan let himself inhale his familiar scent.

Finally, Sean sighed. "Something feels off and now I've got the strongest feeling I shouldn't have made that call."

Lan tried to smile reassuringly. “Hey, don’t you start! It’s bad enough that one of us has premonitions.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the end they had decided to wait in the lobby of the hotel. Their agreement had been unspoken, but they both felt that they didn’t want other people intruding into their personal space. The lobby of the hotel was raised above street level by about half the height of a typical floor so they had a clear view of the street.

They’d ordered some coffee and had just about finished drinking it when a car pulled up outside. One man, dressed in plain clothes, got out of the car, came through the revolving doorway and started up the half a dozen steps that led to where they were sitting. Lan watched him as he approached and he saw the man’s gaze settle on the two of them without hesitation. There was no doubt in Lan’s mind, he was good at his job. A finger of unease began to creep up his spine. They stood when he got closer.

Sean walked to meet him and offered his hand. “Detective Wells? I’m Sean Bean.”

Ignoring Sean’s hand, Wells nodded and looked pointedly at Lan.

“Orlando Bloom.”

“Good to meet you both. I’ve arranged for you to make your statements away from the precinct house. It’s for security.” Before Lan could ask why security was an issue Wells turned and began to walk towards the exit.

Lan looked over at Sean and shrugged. Wells wasn’t going to win a personality contest that was for sure.

“Just as well we brought our coats down with us, I don’t get the feeling he would have been happy to wait while we went back upstairs.” Sean muttered while they were putting on their jackets.

“Yeah, not exactly Mr Talkative is he?”

They followed Wells out onto 7th Avenue and across the pavement to the road. Wells opened the door behind the driver’s seat which was closest to the kerb. He then stood back so that they could get inside. Sean slid in first so, taking his time, Lan walked around to the other side and opened that door. Meanwhile, Wells got into the driver’s seat.

Lan couldn’t have explained what made him reach down and check the child safety lock on the door and then, when he found it was on, he flicked it to the off position before getting into the vehicle.

Wells started the engine and pulled out into the light Sunday morning traffic. He headed downtown for half a block, swung left onto 30th and then left again on 6th and headed uptown.

“Where’re we going then?” Sean asked.

Wells didn’t look back, but he spoke so they could hear. “I’m using one of our safe houses up near the Park. We think Falconi’s killer had inside help so we’re taking no chances with your safety.”

“Inside help?” Sean said, “You mean corrupt police officers?”

Wells’ demeanour itself was unsettling but his comment about their safety had warning bells the size of Big Ben ringing in Lan’s head. As they neared Central Park, Wells shoulders hunched and Lan could see the way his fingers whitened where they clenched onto the steering wheel. Sean was equally uncomfortable and Lan could feel him shifting in his seat.

Wells turned left at the end of 6th and drove along the southern perimeter of the Park before taking the first exit at Columbus Circle and heading up along the west side of the Park. They were somewhere in the 70s when Wells pulled over to the side of the road.

“Are we here then?” Sean asked.

Wells rolled down his window and half turned to face them, “We’re waiting for someone.”

“Who?” Sean asked again.

“Another officer. We’re just picking him up.”

The warning bells were deafening in Lan’s head and, as unobtrusively as possible, he reached for the door handle, hoping against hope that he’d managed to negate the door lock.

Wells shifted in his seat again, this time turning further to allow him to see out of the rear window of the car.

Sean turned automatically to see what Wells was looking at and shouted, “What the fuck's going on?”

Having been on edge for what seemed like hours, Lan pulled the lever, pushed open the door and squirmed out. At the same time he reached back and grabbed onto Sean’s sleeve, pulling him bodily out of the car. From the corner of his eye Lan saw Wells pull for his gun and point it in their direction. Fortunately that was the moment Sean flew out of the car like the cork out of a bottle. He tripped as his feet hit the roadway and ended up on his knees so that Wells first shot went high and over his head. Adrenaline lent Lan strength and dragging Sean to his feet, he hauled him across the road and in the direction of the wall that surrounded the Park.

He heard further shots and the sound of running feet as they hurled themselves over the wall. They raced down a slight slope and across a small roadway and back into the sparse cover offered by some trees. It was only when they reached the open ground surrounding a lake that Lan realised Sean was breathing far more heavily than he should be from such a short run, even when they were being chased by men with guns. Turning to face his lover, he saw the rip in the sleeve of Sean’s jacket and the dark stain that was growing on his arm.

“Shit! Sean, you’ve been hit!”

Sean looked at him oddly. “What?”

Lan grabbed at his arm. “Look! You’ve been shot!”

Sean looked down at his arm and immediately started to weave on his feet. “Fuck, I didn’t notice.”

“Come on!” Putting his shoulder under Sean’s good arm, Lan curled his arm around Sean’s waist and began to support him as they staggered off. He could see that the tree cover was much thicker on the other side of the water so he headed around the top end of the lake.

As they moved Lan tried to figure out what to do next. His first hope was that because the men chasing them were acting outside the law, they wouldn’t be able to call on a lot of help to assist in the search. But, as they couldn’t know how far the corruption had spread going to the Police wasn’t exactly a safe option. Also, they couldn’t hide out in the Park for very long. Sean was wounded and would need medical treatment. It was December and it would get very cold out in the open before too long.

He heard a squeal of tyres and without thinking, Lan hit the ground and rolled behind some bushes dragging Sean with him. Fortunately their jackets were muted colours and didn’t stand out against the foliage. From their hiding place Lan saw the car come down a road that led into the Park. The car came to a junction and Lan could see Wells and the other man sitting in the front of the car apparently having a heated discussion before taking the road that led south.

Lan waited until the car was out of sight and then pulled Sean to his feet.

“They gone?” Sean mumbled.

Lan started moving as quickly as he could while supporting Sean. “Yeah, they’re heading back towards the city. They must think we’ll go that way to try to get some help.”

“How many?”

“Just the two for now; which is lucky for us. They’re not going to be able to search effectively with just one car and two men.”

“You think it is just them we’re up against?”

Lan thought quickly. “Don’t think so. They had to have more help to intercept your call.”

They’d rounded the head of the lake now and Lan headed deeper into the tree cover. They needed to find somewhere to hole up for a while so that he could check on Sean’s wound and work out what to do next.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Sean hurt, Lan is at his wit's end to know what to do. They need help but are strangers to the city. Who can they turn to?

They walked on for another fifteen minutes without seeing anyone and Lan decided they were safe enough to stop for a minute so that he could see to Sean.

He got Sean to sit propped against a tree and, trying to jostle his bad arm as little as possible, he unzipped his jacket and slipped it off one shoulder. Sean’s shirt was ripped and it looked to Lan as though the bullet had just clipped his arm, taking a chuck of flesh with it. It was still bleeding quite badly and moving around as they'd been doing was only making it worse. Using his handkerchief, which fortunately was clean, Lan made a pad and pushed it into place against the wound. He then helped Sean back into his jacket and got him to push against the pad with his good hand. It wasn’t going to work terribly well, but for the moment it was the best he could do.

They walked on down the east side of the lake because Lan thought he had seen a building from between the trees. From this distance it appeared to be closed. As they got closer he realised it was a small boathouse. There was a café next door but they were both deserted. The cold wind meant that this was not really the time of year for sailing or rowing on the lake, but that worked to their advantage now. Leaving Sean under the cover of the trees, Lan edged closer to the boathouse, the lock was a simple one and after searching around for a few moments he found a piece of wire which he could use to pick the lock. Fortunately being in the force had given him some useful skills…

Opening the door, Lan looked inside, a number of rowing boats stood on their ends, up against the wall, the oars were stacked in large wooden frames. There wasn’t much room but at least they would be out of sight. Moving quickly, Lan went back outside to fetch Sean.

Once they were both safely inside, Lan wedged the door shut with a couple of the oars. It wasn’t going to work against a concerted effort to get in but it would at least give them a little time to react if anyone should come calling. Getting Sean to sit down Lan began to explore their surroundings. It only took moments but he did manage to find a couple of old blankets which he wrapped around Sean who was now beginning to look more than a little pale. He checked the wound and shrugged helplessly. He didn’t have anything remotely resembling a first aid kit. He couldn’t even do anything else to stop the bleeding.

Lan sat down next to Sean. “How are you feeling?”

“I’ll live.”

Lan snorted, but refrained from commenting on Sean’s effort to play down the situation. What was there to say? They both knew they were in one hell of a mess.

Sean looked at him quizzically. “What made you suspicious about Wells so that you fixed the lock on the car?”

“Dunno really, I agreed with what you said back in the hotel room, something felt off and I knew I needed to make sure we had an escape route just in case.”

Sean let his head fall back against the wall of the shed and closed his eyes.

Worried, Lan put his hand against Sean’s neck to check his temperature. His skin felt clammy and, as far as Lan could tell, he was going into shock now that the adrenaline of their flight was beginning to wear off.

“I’m fine, Lan. I’m so sorry I got you into this mess. I knew I shouldn’t have made that call.”

“Hey, none of that. We’re in this together, like always. Anyway I agreed that you should make the call.”

“I know. It’s just…”

“Just what?”

“What shall we do now? Going to the police is going to be risky. We don’t know who we can trust.”

“I know. We can’t stay here for very long either, it's too cold. But there’s no way we can go back to the hotel. That’ll be one of the first places they’ll check.”

“Yeah. Our passports are there too. So it won’t take long before they have pictures of us to show around.”

“You think they’ll do that? It’s a risk. What if we get picked up by a straight copper.”

“It’s going to be our word against theirs. No one will believe us. They only have to make up some sort of story and we’ll have the whole police department down on our heads.” Sean closed his eyes again.

“You sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just feeling a bit cold.”

Trying to appear unworried, Lan rested a hand against Sean’s face. He was warmer but if anything his skin appeared paler. Lan knew he had to do something and soon; Sean needed a doctor.

"The only idea I can come up with is trying to get out of the city. If we can find somewhere to hole up we can get in touch with Daphne. She can contact Bodie or Doyle and they can get us some help. Maybe arrange for us to get to the embassy and wait there until this mess is sorted out."

“Makes sense to me but we’ll need to get some money just in case.” Sean nodded and began to get to his feet.

“No. You stay here, you’re hurt and the blood on your jacket is too noticeable. I’ve got my wallet and cash card. I’ll go and get the money and buy the tickets. If they’re watching the stations they’ll be looking for two men not one. Then I’ll come back and get you. We’ll arrange to get to the station at the last moment before the train leaves.”

Sean looked uncertain. “I don’t like the idea of you being on your own out there.”

Lan crouched down in front of him. “I’ll be able to move quicker on my own and I’ll be back before you know it.”

Sean still looked dubious but Lan knew it was their only chance. He just hoped Sean would come to the same conclusion without a fight.

Finally after what seemed like hours of silence, Sean nodded. “Okay, but promise me you’ll be careful. I couldn’t bear to lose you.”

Lan didn’t answer. There was nothing he could say. If anything happened to him, Sean’s chances of survival would plummet.

Checking to make sure his wallet was in his pocket Lan leaned forward and kissed Sean. Fear made them cling together for long moments trying to give each other the courage to do what was needed to ensure their survival.

“God! I love you so much.” Sean’s breath was warm against his ear.

“I love you too. Don’t worry I’ll be back as soon as I can. I’ll leave the door unlocked so you can get out if you need to.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Five minutes later Lan was loping across to the east side of the Park. He had decided to head down 5th Avenue and find an ATM machine there. Even though it was freezing he was sure that the famous shopping district would be crowded with Christmas shoppers. He managed to get across the road and onto 5th without any fuss and feeling a bit more confident that the opposition didn't have a huge number of men, he hurried along. He remembered seeing a cash dispenser around the Rockefeller Centre so headed there first of all, trying to keep in the crowds. Even though he was above average height for the UK he didn't stand that much taller than the average man here which helped him remain inconspicuous.

He was pretty sure that even the police wouldn't have been able to put a trace on his bank card so quickly on a Sunday so he decided to take out the maximum amount of cash he could. He slid the card into the slot and punched in the four numbers. Grabbing the cash as soon as it appeared he shoved it into his pocket.

He thought quickly, Grand Central Station was down around 42nd St, maybe ten blocks south and then a block or so east, so stuffing his hands firmly down into his pockets, he began to walk, at the same time trying to keep his head down. Deciding that he needed a baseball cap to help disguise his features, as well as helping to keep him warm, he walked into a small store on 5th Avenue. The owner was sitting at the back behind a counter and there was a small TV nearby. The owner glanced around and saw him but then went back to watching a TV show. The first cap he saw had NYPD on it and right at that moment it didn't strike Lan as funny. So he picked up a Mets cap and began to walk over to the counter to pay for it. Just as he did the picture of the TV changed to a news bulletin and there on the TV were pictures of him and Sean!

The pictures were the same as the ones in their passports which meant that the police had already been into their hotel room. Fortunately, as with most passport pictures, they were not a good likeness of either of them. The major problem was that now the Police had the means to identify them unmistakably and it would then only be a matter of time before they learned that they had been police officers themselves.

The owner was already looking at him so Lan continued up to the counter, hoping against hope that the picture would change quickly so that he could pay and get out of there. The fact that their pictures were on TV though meant that they were unlikely to be able to get on a train without someone recognising them and making a report. Shit! What could they do now? Calming himself Lan paid for the cap and refused the offer of a bag. Pulling off the price tag he jammed the cap down on his head while he waited for his change. Fortunately their pictures had disappeared by the time the owner had turned to the cash register.

Walking away quickly, Lan reconsidered his options. Although Sean was currently doing okay, that wouldn’t continue unless Lan got him some medical treatment. He needed to get back to Sean and try to find them somewhere better to hide out before it got dark.

Deep in thought he let his concentration slip and it was only when he needed to cross a side street that he looked up and once more took notice of his surroundings. Facing him on the opposite side of the road he spotted a blue and white police car with two officers sitting inside. He tried to continue to walk casually but he could see that they were both staring at him, searching their memories for where they had seen him before. It also told him that he probably only had seconds before they remembered and gave chase.

Making a split second decision he walked on, passing level with the car and then turning right onto 46th Street and heading east towards Madison. If they wanted to come after him now they would have to either go against the flow of traffic on 5th Avenue or go west on 45th, north on 6th Avenue and then back east on 46th. If he was quick he should be able to lose them before they could catch up with him or they could call for help.

Weaving his way between the tourists wandering along viewing the sights, he looked desperately for a way to get off the street. His luck was out as there wasn’t a subway station close by that he could see. It was a moot point anyway as he wasn’t sure that he had the right change in his pocket for a ticket and wouldn’t have a clue which train he could take to get back to Sean. Keeping to a fast walk, he headed north up Madison Avenue, keeping a look out for police. All the time he was thinking frantically of what they could do now. He reached the park without seeing another police vehicle. Managing to cross 59th Street, he continued along Madison, heading up towards streets in the seventies, which were on a level with the boathouse where he had left Sean.

Shortly after, he saw one of the glass newspaper dispensers. Glancing inside he saw that his and Sean’s pictures were on the front cover already. Needing to know what had been said about them, he fished around in his pocket for the right coins, inserted them and pulled out a paper. Glancing at the headlines, he read quickly while he continued to walk. The gist of the story was that he and Sean were being blamed for the death of Ricky Falconi. The public were warned not to approach them as they were armed and dangerous. Lan cursed loudly. Bloody great! That meant that even the honest cops would now be looking for them and wouldn’t be taking any chances, probably shooting first and asking questions later. They were fucked!

He’d folded the paper, intending to stick it in his jacket pocket to leave his hands free when an advert on the back page caught his eye. Got a problem? Odds against you? Call the Equalizer. Then there was a phone number.

Lan stared at the advert for what seemed like an age before deciding he and Sean had nothing to lose if he called the number.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Help is at hand!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry that I didn't post this chapter earlier - we've been without internet for a few days but it's all fixed now! Hopefully we will also be back to a regular posting schedule going forward - so the plan is to post next chapter on Sunday.

Robert McCall was taking the opportunity of a few quiet minutes to drink a cup of tea and read the newspaper. A Mozart concerto was playing in the background as he settled back into his favourite armchair. It was a rare thing now to have the time to do either so he vowed to make the most of this period of respite.

He’d just closed another Equalizer case and needed a little time to regain his equilibrium, therefore when the phone rang he ignored it. Whoever it was could leave a message and he’d phone them back within the hour. This close to Christmas he hoped there wouldn’t be anything urgent needing his special skills. Never the less, he listened while his voice advised the caller to leave a name and number. At that point, someone started knocking on the door of his apartment.

That was fine too. He’d ignore whoever it was and they were sure to go away. It was probably someone collecting for charity or some such. Well, he’d already donated enough to causes he wished to support so his conscience was clear.

“Hey, McCall, I know you’re in there. Your car’s parked outside.” He heard the familiar drawl of Mickey Kostmayer through the wooden panels of the door.

With a huff, he climbed to his feet and walked over to the front door, just as a hesitant voice with a definite British accent started talking; the voice sounding tinny through the speaker of the answering machine.

“Hello? Is anyone there? My name’s... “ - there was a moment of hesitation - “Lan and I need some help. My friend’s been shot. It’s not serious yet, but it will be if I can’t get some help for him. We’re in a really difficult situation and I don’t have any idea who else to turn to.”

Listening intently now, McCall undid the locks on his front door and waved Mickey inside.

The voice continued, “I hope you can hear me because I don’t think we have time to wait for you to get back to us and no real means for you to do so. The police are after us. Sean can identify –“

Hearing more than enough to know that this case was extremely urgent, Robert picked up the phone receiver. “Hello, Lan. This is Robert McCall. I’m here to help you.”

There was a stunned silence at the other end of the phone and then Lan said, “But you’re British too!”

Mickey leant against the corner of the wall close to the answering machine and listened.

“In a manner of speaking but that doesn't matter. I've lived here for a very long time.”

“Oh okay. I hope you can help us. Sean needs to see a doctor and we need to find a way to get in touch with some friends of ours who can help us sort out this mess.”

“You said the police were after you? Why is that?”

“It started when Sean told them he could identify the driver of the car involved in the killing of a police officer last night. A detective called Wells came to see us but it was a set up. They tried to shoot us but we just about managed to escape. I left Sean hidden and tried to get some train tickets to get us out of the city but our pictures are on TV and in the papers. They're blaming us for killing Officer Falconi so it’s only a matter of time before they find us.”

McCall admired the calm way the man was able to report the situation. Experience told him that this caller wasn’t a simple civilian. He needed to meet these men with caution.

“Tell me where you are right now and I’ll come and get you.”

After a moment of hesitation, Lan answered.

“I’m in a phone box on the corner of Madison Avenue and 72nd Street.”

“I’m not very far away at all. Stay there but as far out of sight as you can, Lan. I drive a black Jaguar car and will have a colleague with me who will get out of the car to meet you. His name is Mickey and he’s wearing a khaki jacket. We’ll be there in less than ten minutes. Then we can take you to collect your friend.”

He put the phone down and walking over to the closet pulled out his overcoat.

“So, we’re helping this guy? I thought you were looking to take a little time off for the next couple of days,” Mickey offered as McCall tried to find his car keys.

“I know, Mick, but he sounds as though he’s in a tricky situation.” 

“Yeah and the fact that he’s British doesn’t hurt.” Mickey gave a lopsided smile.

As they left the building, Mickey pulled a woollen knit cap out of his pocket and put it on. “Jesus, it’s cold today. I reckon there’ll be snow soon.”

Looking around at the sky full of clouds McCall had to agree. “Let’s not wait around in that case. He said his friend was hurt and being out in this weather is not going to be good for him at all. I think we need to be a little careful when we collect this Lan though, he was demonstrating an admirable calmness given the seriousness of his situation.” 

“Noticed that, did ya?” Mickey grinned at him as he got into the car.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It had been difficult for Lan to find somewhere to wait that was not in clear view. Most of the buildings on the street were apartments and had fierce looking doormen standing inside the entrance halls. He knew they wouldn’t be amenable to him waiting around. It would look bloody suspicious for one thing. Then he had found the entrance to a gallery that was in the basement of a large office building. Luckily it was closed and he could wait in the doorway and out of sight. There was the added advantage of a canvas canopy over the entrance which helped to keep out the wind.

He’d been out in it for several hours but he had been scared and moving quickly so he'd not noticed the cold. But now, standing still, he quickly become aware of the freezing temperatures. Oh God, Sean was sitting around in this with no way of keeping warm apart from a couple of old blankets. He hoped this guy McCall was as good as his word and would be there soon. Sean was going to be in a bad enough way already without having to wait around too much longer.

The minutes crawled by and he wrapped his arms around himself to try to hold heat in. They'd not managed any breakfast this morning and as soon as the thought crossed his mind, his stomach rumbled, obviously looking for the sympathy vote.

Fortunately, he didn't have to wait too much longer before seeing the familiar shape of a black Jaguar which pulled up at the kerb across from where he was standing. After a couple of seconds the passenger side door opened and a nondescript man of average height got out. He was wearing an old army type parka so Lan guessed he was the man Mickey, McCall had mentioned. Without looking around he headed in Lan's direction.

When he was close enough to speak without shouting he said, “Hey, I'm Mickey Kostmayer. McCall told you to expect me.”

The words were calmly spoken and to the point, conveying Mickey’s capability and giving Lan a huge sense of relief. Up until now Wells and his accomplices had had it all their own way, maybe now, he and Sean would at least have some chance of getting out of this situation without further damage.

Moving out of the shelter of the doorway he walked towards Mickey. “Thanks for coming. We need to go and pick up Sean as soon as possible and get him to a doctor. He's been shot.”

Mickey nodded. “Okay, we can do that. Where is he?”

“I left him in a sort of boathouse, near the lake in the Park.”

They'd reached the car by now and Mickey pointed to the rear door. “Get in and we'll get going.”

Lan got into the car and his gaze fell on the older man sitting in the driver's seat. Making an assumption Lan said, “Mr McCall, I’m Orlando Bloom. Thank you for helping us. It’s my first visit here and I don’t know anyone in New York who I can go to.”

The car moved off smoothly as the older man responded. “None of that now, I'm only too pleased that I can be of assistance.”

Mickey interrupted, “We have to pick up his friend from the boathouse in the Park.” As soon as he had finished speaking he produced a gun from inside his jacket.

Lan's heart went into overdrive and he shouted, “What the fuck!” at the same time as he reached for the door handle.

McCall must have seen his panicked movement because he instantly called out, “Orlando! Stop. It's fine. You can trust us. Mickey is simply making sure he's prepared if we run into opposition when we collect your friend.”

Instinctively trusting McCall, Lan subsided back into the comfortable leather seat. Embarrassed by his over-reaction, Lan explained, “Sorry, the last time I was sitting in the back of a car and someone produced a gun it was the start of the mess and Sean and I are in now.”

“That's perfectly understandable. Don't worry, we’ve had experience of this kind of thing. You’re in good hands. Mickey also has some basic medical training and he can help Sean until we can get him to a doctor, if in fact it is necessary after Mickey has taken a look at him.”

In the time it had taken for McCall to reassure him, Lan realised they had reached the boathouse. When Mickey opened the door Lan spoke up. “I ought to go with you, Sean won't know you and might hurt himself if he panics.”

“Okay, we'll take it nice and easy. Keep the motor running, McCall and we'll be right back.”

McCall looked around the area and nodded. “Very well, Mickey. Make it fast.”

On legs that were slightly unsteady Lan climbed out of the car and walked ahead of Mickey to the door to the boathouse. Knocking on the door he called out softly, “Sean, it's me. I've got us some help.”

Hearing no response, Lan pushed the door open and, squinting slightly into the dull interior of the building, he looked around anxiously for his lover. Sean was pretty much where he had left him, slumped in the corner of two walls.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Help arrives but are they in time for Sean?

The cold had been the worst thing to deal with once Lan had gone off to find them a way out of the city. Fully aware of the dangers of hypothermia, Sean was sure he would be able to spot problems before they happened and maybe walk around a bit to keep himself warm enough.

He’d felt fine for a while, managing to keep his focus by listening to noises outside his shelter, checking his watch to see how long Lan had been gone and then trying and trying to work out how soon he would be back.

It must have been a couple of hours later when he suddenly jerked upright, wrenching his injured arm as he did so. For a moment or two he couldn’t remember where he was or why he was there. Realising that he was shivering violently, Sean tried to get up so that he could walk around to warm up but the co-ordination needed to climb to his feet was beyond him and he collapsed back into the angle made by two of the walls of the boathouse. Despite his best efforts his eyes drifted closed again.

He was unsure how much more time had elapsed when he heard noises outside the door but he couldn’t summon up enough enthusiasm to worry about who might be about to come in so he let his eyes close again.

The next thing he was aware of was a familiar voice saying, “Sean, I'm back.”

Opening his eyes slowly Sean looked at the figure kneeling in front of him. It took a while but he managed to whisper, “Hey, you're back.”

“I've got us some help.”

Sean tried to smile. “Great.”

It was when Lan began to pull him to his feet that he saw the other man waiting, sentry-like in the doorway. “Who’s that?” he stuttered.

Lan glanced behind him before replying. “It’s okay. He’s a friend. His name is Mickey. He’s helping us.”

“Oh, good.”

Sean saw the other man, Mickey, he thought he remembered Lan calling him, watching the surroundings intently as Lan got him outside the boathouse and almost carried him over to a black car that was waiting a short distance away with the engine running. Opening one of the back doors, Lan pushed him into glorious warmth that nearly took his breath away. 

Closing the door behind him, Lan then re-appeared at the door on the other side of the car. At the same time, Mickey got into the front passenger seat. Sean then noticed the man driving the car for the first time. He was wearing glasses and a dark overcoat and though he seemed quite a bit older than either of them, there was an air of calm professionalism about him.

The car moved off quickly and they had only travelled a short distance when Mickey turned and muttered, “Duck your heads, there's a cop car up ahead.”

Lan pulled Sean down so that they were both lying partially across the back seat, with Sean mostly on the seat and Lan mostly off it. He couldn’t stop himself groaning at the sudden movement. In response Lan grabbed his hand and squeezed but it was so cold Sean could only feel the sensation of pressure, not the actual touch.

Keeping out of sight meant that Sean very quickly lost any sense of direction. 

“There are a lot of police cars about this evening. I apologise for the discomfort but I think it would be better if you both stayed out of sight.” The older man spoke with a British accent which puzzled Sean.

“Okay.” Lan replied for them and pressed closer to Sean, helping to warm him with his own body heat.

Mickey shifted in his seat and spoke. “Looks like a whole heap of shit has hit the fan, McCall.”

“Succinctly put, Mickey. I think I'll get you all settled and then I'll pay a few calls to see if I can find out more about this Detective Wells, if that is, in fact, his real name.” 

“I think it might be. He showed us a badge and that was his name. Unless it was a fake,” Lan said from his crouched position.

“He was probably sure he would be able to get rid of you without any problems so didn't need to hide his identity,” Mickey suggested.

Sean stayed quiet, relieved that Lan had apparently found some good people to help them.

The older man, McCall, spoke up, “We ought to go to a safe house, rather than my apartment. Every cop in the city knows my car and they might think to mention to Wells that we were out and about in the area this evening.”

Sean wondered just who this McCall was. How did the police know him?

“How about the house in Brooklyn? That gets them out of Manhattan,” Mickey suggested. 

“Good idea, Mickey. You don't have to worry, Lan once we’ve had a chat and I’ve got the full story, I’ll leave you both with Mickey. You'll be in good hands.” 

“What about a doctor for Sean. I'm worried about hypothermia. He seems so out of it,” Lan protested.

“As I explained before, Mickey has medical training and he knows how to get hold of a doctor if one is needed. Some warmth, a hot drink and I’m sure Sean will be well on the road to recovery.”

He knew he should be angry that they were talking about him as though he wasn’t there but to be honest, now that he was getting warm, Sean was too tired to worry and so he let his eyelids droop.

He awoke to the sensation of the car reversing into a parking space. Keeping the engine running, McCall said, “We’ll wait here for a moment or two while Mickey checks that everything is in order.”

Sean was sure he heard a brief snort of amusement from Mickey as he slipped out of the car, the door closing with barely a sound. 

“Where are we?” Lan asked. Sean could feel the way his heart was beating faster than usual, even through the thick jacket he wore.

“Brooklyn, the Brighton Beach area. I’m reasonably confident that Wells’ influence will not have spread this far and you’ll be safe here until we can sort out this mess.”

Moments later the car door opened again and Mickey stuck his head back inside. “All clear, McCall.”

“Good work, Mickey. Let’s get our friends out of that damnably uncomfortable back seat and into the house.”

The transfer to the single storey house was accomplished with minimal fuss, and with Mickey helping to support Sean on the short walk from the car to the doorway.

Once inside, they waited while McCall closed all the curtains. Then the lights were switched on and Sean found himself lowered onto a comfortable couch. He leaned back and closed his eyes, more tired than he could ever recall. His shirt and jacket were sticking to his arm and he hoped he wasn’t bleeding all over someone’s furniture.

Lan crouched down in front of him and asked, “Sean, can you hear me? Open your eyes, love. Let me know you’re okay.”

When he opened his eyes he saw Lan’s face. He looked pale and tired but he was smiling. “We need to get your coat off so that we can take a look at your arm. Then you can get some sleep.”

Sean leaned forward on the sofa to assist as Lan helped him off with his jacket.

Mickey came back into the room with a bowl full of steaming water and a first aid kit and handed Lan a pair of scissors gesturing that he should cut Sean’s shirt and t-shirt off.

Sean held his breath while the garments were cut off, the pain in his arm had reduced to a dull ache and he didn’t relish having it poked and prodded, which he knew from experience would hurt.

Once Lan had finished, being more gentle than Sean could have imagined, he had to ask, “How does it look?” 

Before Lan could reply McCall spoke up. “It looks to be a nice clean wound, the bullet only grazed you. It took a bit of the fleshy part of your arm with it which is why you bled so much. Your arm will be fine, if a bit stiff, for a few days.”

Mickey began cleaning Sean’s arm and again Sean tensed up. Whatever antiseptic Mickey had put in the water stung and made him feel a bit queasy. So he lay back against the sofa and closed his eyes. 

McCall’s said, “It looks to me as though you’re not a complete stranger to bullet wounds though. How did you come by that?” Sean opened his eyes to see that he was pointing at the scar on his abdomen left by Brian O’Donnell’s bullet.

“A couple of years ago, when we were with the Flying Squad, Lan and I were taken hostage, the guy was a complete nutcase and tried to kill us. He shot both of us. Fortunately the cavalry arrived in time.” Sean told the story calmly, if Lan trusted these men then he was going to tell them whatever they needed to know. He was awake enough to realise that they were completely out on a limb, in a foreign country with no friends or ability to influence.

“Flying Squad? Oh, so you are with the Metropolitan Police and based in London?”

“Were,” Lan interrupted. “We left the force earlier this year.”

“What rank?” McCall asked as Mickey began to wrap a bandage around Sean’s upper arm.

“Detective Inspector, I was in The Sweeney and Lan was with the Drugs Squad. Why are you so interested?” Sean answered because he could see that Lan was beginning to bristle at the questions.

McCall smiled reassuringly at Lan. “Because, despite being caught in a traumatic situation, you had enough presence of mind to keep Sean’s whereabouts secret until you were sure about me. Also, you were able to report your situation clearly and concisely, it spoke of some sort of professional training and I want to understand what I might be sticking my head into.”

Mickey had finished with Sean and handed him a replacement shirt and sweater. “I think they should fit. I’ll go and make some coffee.”

“Hang on, Sean. I’ll help you with those,” Lan offered, once Mickey had moved away.

Once he was wearing the replacement clothes, Sean felt comfortable enough to take the time to look around the room they were in. It looked like a pretty normal living room with the sofa and a small dining table and four chairs, a TV and various cupboards. There were two doors leading out of the room; one he knew led into the hallway where they had come in. The other was the one Mickey had been using, so he guessed it led to a kitchen. There must be a bedroom and a bathroom and he suspected those doors led off the hallway even though he hadn’t seen them in the darkness as they’d entered the house.

Mickey returned a few moments later carrying a tray with four mugs on it. “There’s no milk, so I hope everyone is okay with black.”

“That’s fine, Mickey.” McCall answered for all of them.

Taking a seat in a chair facing the sofa McCall looked at Lan. “I think it’s time we talked over what has happened to the two of you and then we can discuss what we are going to next.”

Lan shrugged. “Fine with me. You okay with that, Sean?”

Sean looked up and nodded as Mickey placed a mug on a small table beside him. “Yeah. I’ll let you do most of the talking, Lan, but I’ll add anything else I can remember.”

“Fine, suppose you begin by telling me what happened to you today,” McCall said.

Sean listened as Lan began to explain about the near miss on their way home the night before and how they had seen the news report that morning and had put two and two together. Lan then told McCall about the phone call that morning to the number given on the television and how they had met Wells and how he and his accomplice had tried to kill them both. He then added, which Sean didn’t know, that their pictures, taken from their passports, were being shown on television and that they were being accused of killing Officer Falconi. 

Listening to the steady drone of conversation between Lan and McCall, Sean felt his eyelids grow heavy and though he tried to stay alert, it wasn’t long before he was wishing that he could lie down somewhere. He felt exhausted and just wanted to sleep.

It felt like only a few moments later, but must have been more when Lan shook him gently. “Sean, there’s a bed in the other room. Do you want to go and lie down there?”

Forcing his eyes open, Sean looked around the room. Mickey was over by the dining table, reading a magazine on fishing. He had taken off his jacket and wore a shoulder holster over his thick, flannel shirt. Of McCall there was no sign.

“McCall? Where’s he gone?”

Lan answered, “He’s gone to talk to some people he knows. Apparently he’s been helpful to several police officers in the past and has gone to make enquiries about Wells.”

Mickey interrupted before Sean could voice his concern about the trustworthiness of the police. “It’s okay. He’s known Jeff Burnett, who he’s going to visit first, for a long time. He’s as straight as an arrow.”

Sean nodded, but privately he was reserving judgement on that, having had too many bad experiences with bent coppers.

Lan turned to Mickey. “Are you okay with me taking Sean into the other room to get some proper rest?”

“Sure, just don’t open the shutters in there or turn on the main light. The small one beside the bed is fine. Oh, and leave the door open so I can hear if you need me.”

“You okay to walk, Sean?”

Shrugging, Sean said, “I won’t know until I give it a try.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ade lived in the Brighton Beach area of Brooklyn - hence that's where the safe house is situated. On my last visit to NYC by daughter and I walked over the Brooklyn Bridge from Manhattan to Brooklyn and had the most amazing pizza!


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the safe house and Mickey and Lan get a bad feeling...

Getting Sean settled in the bed took a little while and by the time he had done that Lan was feeling exhausted too. Not sure how Mickey would react to he and Sean sharing a bed, Lan simply lay down on top of the covers. The room was comfortably warm and for practically the first time that day, Lan was able to relax.

Taking Sean’s hand, Lan stroked his fingers slowly, making the touches light but not ticklish. “How’re you feeling, love?” Lan made sure to keep his voice low so that Mickey couldn’t hear their words.

“Okay, a little stiff.”

Lan sniggered and Sean had to smile in response. 

“Don’t get any ideas, I didn’t mean stiff like that.”

“That’s fine. I’m just glad you’re okay.”

“Me too. But you haven’t told me what happened while you were gone. And how you managed to find McCall and persuade him to help us.”

Lan looked at Sean closely, his colour had improved dramatically and his eyes had lost the dull, lifeless look they’d had when they had picked him up so Lan didn’t mind keeping him awake for a while longer.

“It was lucky. I saw our pictures in the newspaper and wanted to see what they had printed about us so I bought one. I was worried about you and was going to head back and see if we could think of another plan when I saw an advert on the back page of the paper. McCall calls himself The Equalizer and the ad said if the odds were against you, you should call a phone number. I called, explained our problem and he told me that he could help. I gave him my location and ten minutes later he was there.” Lan smiled again in relief. “You know the rest.”

“We were lucky you found that number,” Sean said around a yawn.

“Tell me about it,” Lan replied. “I’m wondering what their background is. I get the feeling that Mickey is ex-military. He sort of reminds me of Bodie and I bet McCall gets all indignant like Ray does when he comes across injustice of any sort. He strikes me like that.”

“Me too.” Sean looked a bit thoughtful again. “Having this place for us to hide out to hand must mean that this is something McCall has done before and that he has a lot of resources.”

“Yeah, maybe he’s got a family fortune or something and because he doesn’t have any family to leave it to is using it to help people.”

“Maybe.” Sean yawned again.

Feeling guilty for keeping Sean awake, Lan instantly said, “Come on, love. Get some sleep. You’ll heal quicker if you rest.”

It was as though Sean was waiting for his permission to give in because between one breath and the next he was asleep and snoring quietly.

By the light of the small bedside lamp, Lan spent a few minutes studying Sean’s face. In sleep he looked much younger, with all the tension wiped away. Lan touched his hair, it was getting a bit long again so they ought to get to the barber soon, before Christmas at any rate. Realising that his mind was drifting and that he should really take this opportunity to get some sleep, Lan closed his eyes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pouring himself a cup of coffee from the new pot he’d just made, Mickey walked back to the table and sat down. Finished with his magazine he began to turn the pages of the paper that McCall had left behind. He skipped the foreign news section without looking, in his opinion, it rarely bore any resemblance to what was actually going on overseas. Working for the Company made you realise how much of the truth could be lost with a little careful editing.

He wondered again at McCall’s decision to give up working for the Company and go it alone. Having known the man for a long time, Mickey understood his need to try to make amends. Hell, he had a lot of skeletons in his own closet that his conscience kept bothering him about, so maybe one of his reasons for helping McCall out was partly in restitution for his own sins. Being brought up a Catholic, no matter that he had little time for religion, meant that he had a highly developed sense of guilt.

He could hear a faint murmur of voices from the bedroom and, like a lot of men who’d been through the military, Mickey had known guys who liked being with other guys. It wasn’t his thing; he’d always preferred the ladies. If he’d been asked to make a judgement just on looks, he might have said that Lando was possibly queer but he would have never thought it about the other one, Sean. Maybe that just showed that he shouldn’t subscribe to stereotyping. There was no doubt though that they were committed to each other. He knew what Lan had gone through to keep Sean safe when he could have run on his own and easily left the city.

As far as he was aware the London police department were not friendly towards men like these. Lando had said something about them leaving the force and from the bitterness in his voice it didn’t seem like something they had done voluntarily. He’d seen the scar on Sean’s torso from the bullet wound but that wasn’t enough to disable him and get him invalided out on health grounds. No, something else had made them leave and maybe he ought to get to the bottom of it. Just to be on the safe side.

Picking up the phone Mickey dialled a number and waited for the call to be picked up. 

“What?”

“Hey, Jonah.”

“Kostmayer. What do you want?” The voice at the other end of the line sounded suspicious.

“Nothing that’s going to get you into any trouble. Just some information.”

“What about?”

“I’m trying to find out about a couple of Brits. They were once in the police department in London, detectives, and both inspectors. So pretty senior. Can you use one of your fancy computers to find out some more about them for me?”

“Names?”

“Orlando Bloom and Sean something. Not sure of his last name. The history will be together. I want to know why they left the police.”

“No problem. What number can I reach you on?”

“Area code seven oh eight, five, five, five, four, one, two five.”

“Give me ten.”

Mickey put the phone down and picked up his mug. McCall would probably be pissed that he’d checked them out but watching McCall’s back was Mickey’s job and that was never going to change. He might not have the instinctual ability to gauge people like the other man but he’d been around the block a time or two and knew when to check things out.

It was a bit more than ten minutes later, when the phone rang. “Yeah?”

“It’s Jonah.”

“What have you got for me?”

“It was all over the papers at the time. Orlando Bloom and Sean Bean were both detective inspectors with the Metropolitan Police in London up until February this year. Then they were retired due to ill health, following a run in with a drug dealing crook called Tony Adams. It appears that Adams revealed photos showing that Bloom and Bean were lovers. There were rumours that he offered to conceal the pictures if they would look the other way during a big drugs deal. They refused and he wrecked their careers. They couldn’t be fired for being together but the powers that be weren’t happy that they’d managed to be lovers for nearly three years without anyone having the slightest suspicion. Hell, they were even sharing a house and no one had a clue.”

“So what you’re telling me is that they were paid off and told to go away?”

“Yeah.”

“No sign of anything suspicious? No rumours about them being on the take or anything like that?”

“Not a word. Bloom was in the Drugs Squad at the time, a prime target for being on the take but he was squeaky clean. He was even nominated for a medal for distinguished service, mainly for undercover work, but for some reason it was never awarded. Bean was in the Flying Squad, dealing with organised crime and there was never any doubt about him either.”

Mickey nodded to himself. “Okay, thanks for that, Jonah, the drinks are on me the next time I see you.”

He’d only just put the phone down when he heard a noise from the bedroom. Drawing his automatic he walked carefully over to the door to the hallway. Everything looked quiet so he turned until he could see into the single bedroom. Clearly illuminated by the bedside light, he could see Bean, asleep and buried under a mound of covers. Bloom was sleeping on top of the blankets but his arm was resting over Bean. After Jonah’s revelations and his own suspicions it wasn’t exactly a surprise. 

Seeing nothing out of place, Mickey walked quietly back to the living room and once more took his place at the table, pondering as he went about the relationship between the two men in his care. 

Not long after, the feeling that something was off began to nag at him like a sore tooth. He went over in his mind the sequence of that afternoon’s events and there was no place where he could see that he or McCall had made a mistake. They weren’t amateurs at this kind of thing for God’s sake.

Even after he had looked outside and seen that everything was quiet, the feeling of disquiet didn’t go away. His instincts had served him well in the past and he felt he had to get them out of the house. Guessing it was going to take Bean a while to get moving, he walked back to the bedroom. When he got there was amazed to see Bloom helping Bean on with his shoes.

“What’s going on?”

Bloom answered but didn’t stop what he was doing. “We have to move out and I thought it would speed things up if I started to help Sean get ready.”

If anything Bloom’s words only increased his unease. “How did you know that?”

Helping Bean to stand he held out his jacket so that the other man could slip his arms into the sleeves. “It was just a feeling but I’ve learned to pay attention to them.”

He wasn’t going to let Bloom get away with such a vague explanation but questions could wait. Now they needed to concentrate on moving out.

“Okay. We’re lucky that this place has a built in garage so we can get in the car without anyone noticing.”

“What about Mr McCall?” Bean was now standing, a little shaky but he looked as though he wasn’t going to hold them up.

“I’ll let him know what’s going on when we get somewhere safe.”

“Will he be okay?”

Mickey had to grin at that. “Yeah, he’ll be fine. He’s had a long time to learn to take care of himself.” 

It took little time to get everyone into the car, with Mickey behind the wheel and the others low down in the back seat, with a blanket over them. Just before he hit the button to open the garage door automatically, Mickey turned to face the back seat. “I know English police don’t usually carry guns, are either of you trained?”

“Yeah, both of us.” Bloom’s voice came from behind his seat.

Mickey passed a spare automatic back to him and asked, “Ever shot anyone?”

“Yeah.”

He could hear an undercurrent in Bloom’s voice that said he wasn’t happy that he had, which suited Mickey fine. The last thing he needed was a gun happy idiot who would panic and shoot indiscriminately sitting just behind him.

He started the engine and hit the door release at the same time and as he waited for the door to open sufficiently to enable him to drive out, Mickey said, “Keep your heads down. There are a couple of guys hanging around just down the street. If they try to stop us, I’m going to keep right on going.”

Keeping his speed low, Mickey continued to drive. As he got closer to the other men, they stood straighter and another two appeared from out of the shadows. Shit! This was looking worse all the time. Making a snap decision, he floored the accelerator, just as one of the men started to walk out into the road, holding up his hand for them to halt.

Fortunately, he leaped out of the way quickly when he realised that Mickey wasn’t going to stop. Keeping his foot pressed down hard on the gas, Mickey looked in the rear view mirror praying that they weren’t being followed. He wasn’t sure how easy it would be to outrun any pursuit, particularly as they were cops and would have the means to call for back up. While Mickey’s Company ID would get him out of a lot of problems, trying to explain why he was working at home would get him into a huge pile of shit.

“I think we got away but the first thing we need to do is ditch this car. It’s too much to hope that they didn’t get a good look at the licence plate.”

“Where are you going to get another car?” Bloom’s voice floated from behind him.

“I’ll get one off the street.”

“Wait! You’re going to steal a car!” That was Bean and Mickey couldn’t help smiling.

Before he could come up with a suitable retort, Bloom butted in, “Hell, Sean, we’re already wanted on suspicion of killing a cop, car theft is not going to make it any worse.”

With that the pair of them started to laugh and Mickey couldn’t help but join in.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Safe house number two and the hope is that they will be able to rest up and let Sean begin to heal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for not posting last week. It was Mother's Day and my birthday so I was pretty busy!

Half an hour later, they were in a car Mickey had acquired. This was a big, old fashioned American car, the sort Sean was accustomed to seeing in films. He’d baulked at first but Mickey had convinced him that sometimes it was easier to hide in plain sight. That was just as well, because of the noise the car was making with its faulty exhaust, Sean was sure that everyone within a four mile radius would be able to hear them coming.

One thing he did know was that he was getting damned fed up with having to travel crouched down behind the front seat of a car.

When Mickey finally stopped and pushed the gear lever forward into park, Sean was sure he would never be able to walk fully upright ever again, he ached so much.

Fortunately, they didn’t have far to walk before they were once more off the street. They climbed two flights of stairs and walked along a long corridor before Mickey pulled out a key and opened the door into a small apartment.

Sean walked straight into a small living room with a kitchen area joined onto it. Mickey pointed at a couple of doorways over on the other side of the room. The bathroom’s on the left and the one on the right is the bedroom. Help yourself if you need to lie down some more.” 

He headed back to the door. “Lock it behind me and don’t let anyone in unless it’s me or McCall. Shoot if you have to.”

“Where are you going?” Lan interjected.

“I’m gonna go and lose the car a couple of blocks away. If they have the intelligence to check on stolen cars in the vicinity of where the other one was dumped I don’t want them to be led straight here. If I leave it a couple of blocks away, they’ll have far too much ground to search. I’m also going to give McCall a call and let him know about the latest developments. I’m sure he’ll be interested to find out that Wells and his friends managed to find us.”

“Okay. Make sure you let me know it is you coming through the door when you get back.” Lan suggested in a voice that brooked no argument.

Sean was pleased to see that Mickey looked a little put out by Lan’s comment but privately he applauded his lover’s words. He was fed up with feeling helpless and it was time that both of them asserted themselves. They’d worked for the Met and had too much experience to be treated as mere civilians.

Once the door was closed, Sean walked over and threw the bolts and turned the key. In the meantime, Lan checked that all the windows were closed and shuttered. Once they had done that Sean felt the recent burst of adrenaline wearing off and he sank down onto the hard looking sofa. Patting the seat next to him he said to Lan, “Come and sit here.”

Lan shook his head. “I need to keep alert.” 

“Okay, but only until Mickey gets back. Then you need to rest for a while. You’ve kept going all day and must be exhausted.” 

“I’ll be fine. I managed to sleep for an hour or so at the last place.”

“Yeah, I know you did but at least let me worry a little about you. You’ve spent most of the day looking after me.”

After a moment of internal argument that Sean could see passing across his features, Lan put the gun down on a small table beside the sofa. Then he slid down onto it, sitting on Sean’s left. Taking his hand in his, Sean clasped their fingers loosely together. “Well on a scale of one to ten, I think today’s been pretty shit.”

The snort of laughter from the man sitting next to him, made Sean realise, not for the first time, how grateful he was that they’d found one another.

“Yeah, I think it might rate up there with the worst of them.”

Turning to face Lan, Sean held his hand a little tighter. “I’m sorry for getting you into this mess.”

“You idiot.” Lan looked at him with a mixture of love and exasperation. “It wasn’t just your decision. We agreed that you should call and make the report. So stop blaming yourself.”

“Yeah, but…”

“No buts. Anyway it’s over and done with. We made the decision and now we have to accept the consequences. Besides, now that we’ve got McCall and his resources on our side it’s all over bar the shouting.”

Knowing that Lan was right Sean lay back on the sofa and closed his eyes. “You know what?”

“What?” Lan’s voice was soft and Sean could hear the tiredness in it.

“When this is all over and we are home and safe, we’re going to go to bed and stay there for a couple of days because I reckon that’s how long it’s going to take me to show you how much I love you.”

Sean felt his hand lifted and then the touch of Lan’s lips against the back of his hand. “That sounds amazing and I’m going to hold you to it.”

They sat there for some time before there was a knock on the door. “Hey, it’s me. Let me in.”

Sean recognised Mickey’s deep voice immediately and they both got up from the sofa and walked over to the door. They’d learned caution so Sean stood on the hinge side of the door while Lan, armed with the gun, stood on the opening side. They both made sure to stand well clear of the door itself. Lan silently unlocked the door and slid the bolt across while Sean, reached over carefully and turned the handle. 

The door swung open and Mickey walked through, to be greeted with Lan’s hand holding the gun at head height.

He barely blinked. “Good to see that you’re not taking chances.”

Turning he closed and locked the door once more. All three of them returned to the living room. Mickey set what looked like a bag of takeaway food on the table. The smell hit Sean at once and his stomach started to rumble.

“So what happened?” Sean asked the question that they both wanted answered.

“How about we hold the questions until we’ve got some food inside us. I don’t know about you two but I’m starving. At a rough guess neither of you have eaten since breakfast.”

Sean nodded. “We didn’t even get breakfast. Wells arrived early and we didn’t get a chance.”

“Food sounds good.” Lan pulled out a chair and sat down at the small table.

Mickey sat too and pulled cartons out of the bag and some chopsticks. “I hope Chinese is okay, it’s was all that I could find close by.” He shook his head, “Shit! I didn’t think to ask if either of you were vegetarians or anything.”

“No, it’s okay we both like meat,” Lan responded with a small smile.

Sean hid a grin of his own as he helped himself to some rice and something that looked like chicken.

The huge amount of food disappeared quickly and as he was finishing the last of the noodles, Sean asked again, “It all went okay I assume.”

“Yeah, no sweat. I dropped the car off a ways away so they can’t trace it back to us here. And I called McCall; he’s gonna be here in a couple of hours.”

“Did he say if he’d found out anything about Wells? Is he a real cop?” Lan demanded.

Sean watched as Mickey took a deep breath before answering. “There wasn’t a lot of time to ask questions. So why don’t we wait until he gets here? I’m sure he will have all the answers you need. I’m just the hired help.”

Watching Mickey answer the question Sean was struck by how much of an evasion his reply was. Mickey was much more than simply hired help. Beneath that nondescript exterior he hid a great intelligence and a lot of experience. He wasn’t fooling Sean at all.  
Once they’d finished eating, Lan could see Sean was fading. He looked at Mickey. “You said the bedroom was the one on the right?”

Mickey nodded. “Yeah.”

Turning to Sean he asked, “You want to have another lie down?”

Lan could see that Sean wanted to disagree but then sense won out and he simply nodded before standing and making his way into the bedroom, leaving the door open behind him.

Once he’d left the room, Lan made short work of clearing away the food wrappers, putting them all in one of the bags and then finding the bin in the kitchen area. Looking through the cupboards he found some instant coffee. “Mickey, you want a cup of coffee?”

“Yeah, that’d be good.”

Lan opened the fridge, which was empty. “Black and no sugar?”

“That’s fine. I’ve got used to drinking it however it comes.”

Filling a saucepan with water and putting it on the stove, Lan looked over to where Mickey was sitting at the table. “Why’s that?”

“In my line of work it doesn’t pay to be fussy.”

He knew he was pushing but Lan wanted to know more about the people protecting them. “What line of work are you in? And how do you know McCall?”

Lan saw a smile cross Mickey’s face; apparently these were common questions for him. “We used to work together. Let’s just say we worked for the government.”

“The US government?”

“Yeah.”

“How come? McCall’s British.”

“His mother was American so he has a US passport.”

“Oh. So what do you do?”

“Can’t tell you, ‘cause then I’d have to kill you.” Mickey grinned.

“Jesus, don’t even joke about it,” Lan grouched. “This was supposed to be a fun trip. You know - see some of the sights, visit a couple of clubs, have a good time. It’s the first holiday we’ve had in a year and it all goes to shit.”

“First holiday?”

“When we left the force, we started our own business, as security advisors. It took a while for the business to get going and once that happened we were too busy to take any time off. We got some office help a couple of months ago and it seemed like the perfect time to have a break. I wanted to do some shopping too, get my mum something nice for Christmas.” He sighed. “I guess that’s out of the question now.”

“Nah, I’m sure McCall will get this all sorted out in next to no time.”

“Yeah, but we’re due to fly home on Sunday.” Lan thought for a moment. “Wait isn’t that tomorrow?”

“It is. But it’s no problem, we can get your tickets changed.”

“You’re being very positive here.” Lan looked at him suspiciously.

“Yeah, well, I’m usually an optimist.”

There was silence between them for several minutes and Lan concentrated on making the coffee once the water had boiled. He carried the cups into the sitting area and set one down in front of Mickey. “There you go.”

“Thanks.” Mickey fidgeted with the handle of the cup for a few minutes. “You and Sean are together? Like as a couple?”

Lan felt himself tense as he wondered where Mickey was going with his questions but he and Sean had spent too long hiding who they were so he answered the question frankly. “We are, why do you ask?”

“Curiosity, I guess. So you and Sean? How long have you been together?”

“Nearly four years all told.”

“It must have been difficult. With your jobs I mean.”

“Yeah, it was. We had to hide how we felt for the longest time. There was one night, when I was working undercover trying to get the goods on a big drugs gang and it all went to shit. One of the team was shot and killed and when I didn’t come home as expected Sean was climbing the walls. I couldn’t have him listed as my next of kin so he wasn’t entitled to any information.”

“What did he do?”

“He finally managed to call in a favour from a friend who asked a few questions in the right places. Which turned out to be a good thing because I’d been arrested along with the main players and was stuck in a cell with the worst one of them. If he’d realised I was a copper, my life wouldn’t have been worth a light.”

Mickey spoke slowly as though he was picking his words carefully. “All of the guys I’ve known like you, you know, who preferred guys, haven’t stuck with one person. They’ve all screwed around.”

Lan shrugged. “As soon as I met Sean I just knew I didn’t need anyone else. We’ve been through a lot together and I suppose that has made us as close as we are. We trust each other. Bloody hell, we gave up our careers to be together that has to mean a lot.”

Mickey nodded. “Yeah, I guess so.”

Maybe it had been the conversation and Mickey’s reminder that what they had was unusual, but Lan felt a strong need to be close to Sean. So, giving Mickey a small wave he went over to the bedroom, where Sean was sleeping and crawled under the blanket next to him. Warm and comforted by the familiar sound of Sean’s breathing, Lan soon fell asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mickey had drunk several cups of coffee by the time there was a knock at the door. Walking over to it, he made a great show of rattling the security chain while not actually undoing it. Without opening the door he adopted a thick Polish accent and called out, “Who’s there?”

“It’s me, Mickey. Let me in.” McCall’s voice came to him muffled by the door.

Confident that had there been any trouble, McCall would have found a way to let him know, Mickey unfastened the chain and unlocked and opened the door. He was a little surprised to see that McCall wasn’t alone when Jefferson Burnett followed him into the apartment.

“Hey, Jeff.” Mickey greeted the tall police lieutenant. 

“Kostmayer.” Jefferson Burnett nodded in response.

Mickey looked at both men. “So what’s happening? Do we have a plan?” 

McCall prepared two mugs of coffee and offered one to Burnett. “In a manner of speaking.”

Mickey knew McCall well enough to realise that he wasn’t comfortable with something. “What’s going on?”

He was even more concerned when McCall looked at Burnett for what seemed like permission before continuing. What the fuck? This wasn’t the McCall he knew. That man didn’t take orders, he gave them.

“Come on, Robert, you’re worrying me here.”

“You need some background first,” McCall said.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sean and Lan learn more about Wells and also about McCall's plan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the delay. We started to renovate our bathroom over Easter and have discovered some major issues which have held up the work by about 3 days! We're doing this ourselves and have had to replace a lot of the structural timber to avoid the bathroom ending up in the kitchen...

In the short time he’d known Sean and Lan, Mickey had developed a sense of respect for them. Despite the shit thrown at them, they had been true to themselves and each other, so there was no way he was going to allow, Burnett or McCall for that matter, to put any personal agenda in front of their safety. “Okay, but Sean and Lan deserve to know the full story. They’re the ones whose necks are on the line now.”

McCall and Burnett shared another look and finally Burnett nodded. “Go get them.”

Mickey nodded and headed over to the bedroom. He knocked on the door and then opened it quietly. By the light of the small lamp he could see both of them were under the covers and sound asleep. With Lan curled protectively around Sean.

The younger man stirred when Mickey walked closer to them and by the time Mickey had reached the bed his eyes were open.

“What’s up?” He looked at Mickey nervously.

“McCall’s back and he and Burnett want to share some information about the case with you.”

“Okay, we’ll be out in a couple of minutes.”

Returning to the living room, Mickey saw that the new arrivals had taken seats at the small table containing the remnants of the Chinese food from earlier. While he was waiting Mickey started clearing away the empty food containers Lan had missed.

Only a few minutes later, there was a creak as the bedroom door swung fully open and the slightly dishevelled looking pair came into the room.

McCall spoke first. “Sean, Orlando, I’m glad to see you managed to get some sleep. How are you feeling now, Sean?”

“Not so bad.” The abruptness of his reply let Mickey know that Sean had already picked up on the tense atmosphere in the room.

Both of them took seats at the table, leaving Mickey the only one in the room still standing. Taking station behind the two men he was protecting, Mickey propped himself up against the wall and prepared to listen to what McCall and Burnett had to say.

McCall spoke first. “Officer Falconi was killed investigating a suspected drugs ring but in fact he was working for Jeff here.”

“What?” Sean interjected.

Burnett spoke. “We knew that Wells and a couple of others were dirty. Drugs that had been seized in evidence, and cash, were disappearing from the lock ups but we couldn’t prove anything. I knew Rick Falconi from my neighbourhood and we talked about finding a way to expose the dirty cops everyone knew were there. He agreed to apply for a transfer to 73rd precinct and Wells’ detective squad. He knew it was dangerous, but he’d worked undercover before and was aware of the risks. We needed something to bring Wells down because he was too smart to make a mistake or leave anything to chance.

“Rick called me two nights ago and told me he had something concrete. Something that would guarantee Wells and his friends would go to jail for a long, long time.”

“Did he say what it was?” Lan asked this and, even if Mickey hadn’t known their background, their questions would have made it apparent that they weren’t novices when it came to detective work.

“No. He just said he needed to see me as soon as possible so we arranged a meet and he didn’t show up. It was only a couple of hours later that I got the report that he’d been killed in the line of duty.”

“The news report said that the driver of the car was responsible for shooting Falconi. How certain is your evidence?” Lan continued to question.

“We’ve matched fingerprints found on the murder weapon with those in the car but they are not on record anywhere.”

“Okay, this is the way I see it,” Sean looked over at Burnett. “If you can’t identify the driver from his prints then he doesn’t have a criminal record,” Sean continued. “Wells wouldn’t have gone to the trouble of getting rid of us if the shooter couldn’t identify him. That means he can and is likely to implicate Wells if you pick him up.”

“That’s what I figured. It’s also why I’ve got some pictures here I’d like you to take a look at. They’re associates of Wells and I think one of them might have been the shooter.”

“Okay, let me see them.”

With economical movements Burnett took a large envelope from his inside pocket and rapidly placed five small pictures face up on the table. Each photo showed a man’s face and Mickey could just make out the collars of police uniforms in each. Obviously all of them were either current or ex-cops.

Burnett had barely taken his hands away from the pictures when Sean unerringly pointed at the middle image. “That’s the man I saw in the car that night. He was the bastard that nearly ran us down. The man who was with Wells when he tried to kill us isn’t there though.” 

“Are you sure?” Burnett queried.

“Yeah, I’m sure,” Sean replied; there was no trace of doubt in his voice.

“Sean’s right, the one from the Park isn’t there. The other one, is he a cop too?” Lan asked.

“Was. His name’s Frank Dietman, he quit about three months ago.”

“Fine, all you need to do now is go and pick him up and let him spill everything he knows,” Mickey said, straightening up from his slouched position against the wall.

“I wish we could,” Burnett spoke bitterly. “He was found dead a few hours ago. He’d been hit by a car. Until Sean picked him out I thought it was a hit and run accident.” 

“So what are you going to do now?” Sean asked. “You can’t just let Wells get away with two murders.”

“It looks as though he’s started covering his tracks,” Mickey stated.

“There must be something else we can do,” Sean insisted.

“Right now I’m concentrating on keeping you two alive,” McCall interrupted.

“How about if you arrested Wells for trying to kill us and we gave evidence against him?”

Burnett sighed and rubbed his hand over his face but didn’t reply immediately. After several moments he spoke. “When McCall first came to see me, he told me about you two and gave me your names. I did some checking to see what kind of witnesses you’d make and very quickly found out how you were made to retire from the police force. If the DA charges Wells, you can be sure his attorney would try to pick a jury full of people not sympathetic to your…” Burnett paused to search for the word he wanted before continuing, “…preferences.”

“Shit,” Sean cursed softly. He looked from Burnett to McCall. “So is there nothing we can do? Are we supposed to be ashamed of who we are and slink off home and forget all this?”

Mickey felt the tension in the room step up a notch and guessed that now they were going to get to the heart of the reason they were all here. He looked at McCall and spoke to the room. “Nah, I don’t buy it. I know you too well, McCall. You’re not going to be satisfied letting a bastard like Wells get away with murder. You and Jeff have a plan and I think it’s time you let the rest of us in on it.”

There was silence in the room for a long time before McCall started to speak. “We’ve have an idea, but it could be dangerous.”

“Dangerous? How?” Sean asked.

Before he had time to continue, Lan jumped in. “It’s dangerous because they want to use you, or maybe both of us, as bait. Wells is someone who likes to make sure he has everything covered, but he’s also over-confident. That’s why he came to meet us himself, he was sure he could get rid of his problems by removing us. Unfortunately, he failed and now he has to get rid of us because we know he must be involved in the killing of Falconi and can positively identify one of his accomplices. If there was an investigation, there is the chance that man might crack and try to make a deal then it wouldn’t just be our word against his. Even if we do manage to get on a plane and fly home, we’ll always have to look over our shoulders. Leaving us alive is going to nag at him like toothache.”

“Is he right? Were you planning to use us as bait to trap Wells?” Sean’s gaze switched between McCall and Burnett as he waited for one of them to answer.

Finally, McCall spoke, “We had thought to ask if you would be willing to help us bring Wells down.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Even when he’d been describing how he saw Wells state of mind Lan had never for a moment thought that they would actually come out and ask Sean to put himself at risk to trap the bastard. He said automatically, “That’s not going to happen. No one hates bent coppers more than us, you know that. But you can’t ask Sean to put his life on the line for this. Not when you can’t guarantee his safety.”

“We’d arrange to have Wells meet you somewhere we could keep you safe,” Burnett interjected.

Lan had taken a deep breath and was ready to argue some more when Sean spoke. His voice was quiet but his tone allowed no argument.

“I think we need to hear them out, Lan. Let them tell us all about their plan and then we can think about what they’ve said and discuss it, just the two of us.”

“But, Sean…”

Sean turned in his chair so that he was facing him and grasped his hand. “We lose nothing by hearing them out. I know you’re worried, so am I. But we need to listen to what they have to say. Wells has killed another officer; he needs to be stopped before any more good cops are killed. If we can help do that then we need to at least consider it.”

Lan wanted to argue but deep down he knew that Sean was right. When Rob Newman had been killed, Lan would have done anything to bring his killer to justice. How could they not help out? With a sigh he said, “Okay. Tell us your plan. We’ll listen.”

As McCall explained what he and Burnett had planned, Lan tried to look at their ideas objectively which he admitted, he didn’t find easy. 

Once they had finished speaking, Sean said, “Okay. I can see that using us as bait is the best way to draw him out but if this goes ahead I’m worried about the danger to bystanders in the station. How are you going to ensure that no one else is at risk?”

“We opted for Penn Street station instead of Grand Central because it is smaller and we can control the access better. If we go for late at night then it is less likely the station will be as crowded as, say, at commuter times,” Burnett stated.

“It’s nearly Christmas, there will be people getting on a train to visit their families,” Lan suggested.

“Not at that time of night. They’ll go early in the morning. You’re more likely to have people going home after a night out. Anyway, if we’re reading Wells correctly, he’s going to close the station down with his handpicked men. He doesn’t want any witnesses,” Burnett replied.

“That’s a big risk,” Lan said.

“We don’t think so. We will do everything we can to minimise the danger. Mickey will be there, out of sight, along with other of my colleagues,” McCall said.

Sean came over and stood face to face with Lan, and took his hand. “I think we need to talk about this.” He looked over in Burnett’s direction. “Get us a few minutes and we’ll let you know what we’ve decided.”

Still holding his hand, Sean pulled Lan in the direction of the bedroom, closing the door once they were inside.

They stood facing each other for a moment and then Sean spoke. “We have to do this, love. If we walk away, Wells is going to get stronger and more powerful and will probably kill more decent, honest men.”

Lan rested his head on Sean’s shoulder and was gratified when Sean slipped his arm around his waist, drawing him closer. Pushing away enough that he could look Sean in the eye, Lan said, “I know that. But what if Wells doesn’t show up himself? What happens then?”

“You know as well as I do that he won’t be able to do that. He’s someone who needs to make sure personally, even if it means getting his hands dirty. Why else did he meet us at the hotel?”

Reluctantly, Lan nodded. “Okay.”

“Anyway, with Mickey and McCall looking out for me I’ll be fine.”

Sean’s words sank in and Lan snapped, “What do you mean you?”

“There’s no need for you to be there, love. Why risk both of us.”

“You think I’m going to calmly sit around while you put yourself in danger? Don’t be a wanker, Sean.”

“But –”

“No buts. Wells will know something is going on if I’m not with you. Burnett just said that he’s been checking with the hospitals, looking for someone matching your description with a bullet wound. He will have checked up on us and will know we’re together. He’ll know that I wouldn’t have just run off and left you, especially if you were injured.”

Sean looked as though he wanted to argue but eventually he nodded. “Yeah, I suppose.”

“Okay, so we make sure that we take as many precautions as possible –”

“Too-bloody-right we do.” Sean stroked a hand down his cheek, “I love you. Never forget that.”

Throwing his arms around Sean’s neck, Lan pressed their mouths together, moving his lips against Sean’s until the kiss turned heated and Sean’s tongue was mapping his mouth.

When they finally drew apart, panting slightly, Sean gave a lopsided smile. “I guess we ought to go and tell them the good news.”


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The plan is put into action

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the late posting - weekends are hectic with work on our house.

The next evening, Sean led the way into the station with Lan following him. They were both bundled up in layers of clothes, topped by ragged and dirty overcoats and filthy knitted hats. Sweat was trickling down his back, making the bullet-proof vest he was wearing itch abominably. Mind you, they’d needed the layers for the short walk along 7th Avenue. It was nearly Christmas and the wind rushing along the avenue had been bitterly cold. Disguising themselves as tramps, or hobos as he’d put it, had been Mickey’s idea and it made a lot of sense. They could wear the protective clothing without it being noticeable, the old clothing was something they could easily have found themselves and it made them almost invisible to the majority of the people out on the street. In fact some people had moved to the other side of the pavement to avoid them. Sean suspected it was because they looked dirty enough that the passers-by were expecting them to smell bad.

Entering the main booking hall of the station, Sean looked around and was happy to see that it was nearly empty. The few people he could see were sitting a long way away from them.

Shuffling slowly, Sean made his way across to the booking counter. He checked the ticket windows and seeing there was only one open made his way slowly in that direction. Lan followed him closely, keeping his head down.

Before he got to the window, the shutter behind it was pulled down and the light above it was switched off. Stopping as though to rethink his next move, Sean made a show of looking around the concourse as though considering the options.

They’d barely waited a moment before several men appeared and began walking towards them.

Sean recognised Wells at once. So far so good. 

When Sean looked over to where the people had been waiting for their trains, there was now no one. So Wells was making sure there were no witnesses to whatever he had in mind.

Wells stopped a few feet away. “Sean Bean?”

“Who?” Sean tried to bluff. “Don’t know who you’re talking about.” He mumbled deliberately, hoping it would disguise his accent.

“Give it up, Sean. Just come with me quietly and we can sort out this misunderstanding.”

“Misunderstanding? Is that what you call trying to kill us?”

“Kill you? You’re mistaken.”

“No, we’re not mistaken.” Lan interjected. “We contacted you because Sean saw the car that was used by the killer of Officer Falconi and could identify the driver. You came to our hotel, put us in a car and drove us up by Central Park. You stopped there and you and that man there,” Lan pointed at one of the others, “tried to kill us. Later, I saw the news on TV and in the papers that we were the chief suspects in Falconi’s murder. You tried to frame us for something we didn’t do, admit it.”

Wells grinned at them and shrugged. “Even if I do admit it, who is going to believe you? You’re a couple of queer tourists who came to the city for a good time and to do some business. Unlucky for you, you got involved in a drugs bust and killed Falconi when you made your escape.”

“No one will believe you. When we tell our side of the story someone will take notice.” Sean spoke forcefully.

“It’s gonna be hard to tell your side of the story if you’re both dead.” Wells smiled and pulled a gun out of his pocket, holding it in a gloved hand. With a small smile he pointed it towards Sean.

“We’re not armed,” Sean shouted the words.

Wells shrugged. “Makes no difference. It’s what I say that counts. If I tell the judge that you resisted arrest and pulled a weapon and we shot you both in self defence, then that’s what happened.”

“What about these men?” Sean waved in the directly of Wells’ accomplices. “Will they lie for you?”

“If they know what’s good for them.”

“Is that why you killed Dietman?” As soon as the words left his mouth Sean knew he’d revealed too much and Wells was too sharp not to notice.

“How’d you know about Dietman?”

“We saw it on TV,” Lan answered flatly.

“You’re lying.” Wells looked between them. “It hasn’t been reported.”

No sooner had Wells finished speaking than his words were repeated, but this time amplified over the speaker system in the station. Wells looked around. “What’s going on?”

“You’re nicked! That’s what’s going on,” Sean couldn’t help saying. 

“Nicked? What the fuck does that mean? I don’t know what trick you’ve pulled here, Bean, but it’s not going to make any difference. You’re still going to die.” 

“Wells, and the rest of you, throw down your weapons.” Burnett’s voice rang out loudly over the speakers.

Turning his head Sean saw Burnett and McCall were making their way towards them and breathed a sigh of relief, the cavalry were on their way. He’d had his doubts that Wells would say enough to incriminate himself. There had been a chance that he would shoot without stopping to talk. As the two men got closer, uniformed police officers began to flood into the ticket hall from all directions.

Sean saw Wells façade of invincibility begin to crack as he began to look around wildly for an escape route. 

Burnett called out, “Sean, you and Orlando should move away now. I’ll take over from here.”

The words had barely left his mouth when Wells acted. Realising that he wouldn’t be able to get away easily, he grabbed at Lan, who’d been standing slightly closer. Pulling Lan close against his chest Wells pressed the barrel of the gun against Lan’s head.

Instinctively Sean lurched forward to intervene, but Wells snapped, “Don’t move or I’ll blow his fucking head off.”

“Don’t be a fool, man. You’ve got no way out of this.” McCall‘s voice projected calm in an atmosphere that was beyond tense. 

Sean stood rooted to the spot, feeling sick. “No! Leave him alone. Take me if you need a hostage. Just let him go.”

“Not a chance.” Wells looked at Burnett from behind Lan. “Okay, Jeff I want you to get me a car and a driver. They need to be waiting outside and ready to take me over to the west side heliport. Then I want a chopper, fuelled and waiting to take me at least a hundred miles away.”

“You know we can’t make that sort of deal, Wells.”

Wells grabbed Lan’s chin with his free hand and tilted his head, lowering the gun so that it was pressed against his throat. “If you don’t deal with me, you’ll be mopping his blood up off the floor.”

Sean saw McCall move forward and, as Wells moved slightly to face him, Lan reacted, stamping down hard on Wells instep and at the same time jabbing his elbow back into the detective’s stomach. 

As soon as Wells stumbled, Lan ducked out of his grasp and threw himself forward, landing on the floor with a gasp as the breath was knocked out of him. Instantly, Wells was after him and as though in slow motion Sean saw Wells raise the gun and begin to squeeze the trigger.

The sound of a high velocity bullet rang out and Wells’ gun spun away. Clutching his injured hand, the disgraced detective’s shoulders slumped and Sean at last let out the breath he’d been holding since Lan had made his move.

Suddenly a melee of people surrounded them and Sean had to push his way through the crowd to reach Lan. Reassuring himself that his lover was intact, Sean pulled him close and gave him a shake. “You stupid bugger. What possessed you to try something like that?”

“I knew Mickey didn’t have a clear shot with me standing in front of Wells, I had to get him to let go somehow.”

“Yeah but…” Words failed him and the huge lump that had suddenly appeared in his throat was threatening to choke him.

“Hey, it’s okay. I’m fine and the bad guys are taken care of.” Lan patted Sean’s arm, aware that open displays of affection might not be well received.

Burnett came over and held out his hand. “I want to thank you both for your help. Thanks to you we’ve got most of them. I reckon this lot will start squealing pretty quickly with two murders hanging over them.”

“Does that mean you won’t need us?” Sean asked.

“I’ll come by tomorrow morning and arrange to get your statements, then we’ll let the DA decide. As long as you’re willing to fly back for the trial if needed, I can’t see any reason why you can’t go home as soon as possible.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sean sank down onto the crisp, clean cotton sheet and let his head fall back onto the pillow. Feeling a little chilly, he pulled the top sheet and blanket up over his shoulder while he waited for Lan to finish up in the bathroom.

Burnett had been as good as his word, booking them into a new hotel for the night and, as a bonus he’d found their luggage and had it delivered to them. After a few hours sleep, he’d picked them up himself, to avoid any unpleasant memories and taken them over to the precinct to attend an identity parade and make statements. 

Sean stretched out and relaxed fully for what seemed like years, but was only a couple of days. As Burnett had suspected, the whole gang had fallen over themselves trying to blame Wells for the whole mess and the murders. They’d probably be untangling the conflicting stories for several months, but at least it meant that Wells was not going to walk away from his crimes.

They’d then spent the rest of the day trying to catch up on their delayed Christmas shopping. The earliest flight Burnett had been able to get them tickets for, left New York early on Christmas morning but would get them back to England the same day, so they wouldn’t miss the whole of the day with their family and friends. Which was fortunate as Sonia, had been a bit miffed when they told her they were delayed without going into details. If they’d had to tell her they were missing Christmas all together, Sean wasn’t sure that either of them would have survived the fall out.

Once they’d finished the shopping, McCall had invited them out to dinner at a small restaurant he appeared to own. During dinner even though they’d asked subtle questions, they’d got no closer to discovering why he worked as The Equalizer and Mickey hadn’t helped either, just wearing a shit-eating grin for most of the meal.

Lan appeared from the bathroom and pulled back the covers on the other side of the huge bed. As he lay down on his side, facing Sean, a grin appeared on his face. “You tired?”

“Yeah, knackered.” Sean regretted saying it, but it was true.

Lan immediately rolled onto his back, his hand reaching across the gap between them for Sean’s hand. “Okay. Go to sleep now, I’ll kiss you in the morning.”

Sean tried to sound indignant. “I’m not that tired.” Using the grip Lan had on his hand, Sean pulled him closer and then encouraged him to roll over so that they were both lying face to face. He was lying on his good arm, so Sean moved his wounded one gingerly until he could rest his palm against Lan’s cheek. He let his fingers trace the prominent cheekbone and then curl into the damp hair on the side of Lan’s head. Tugging slightly, Sean pulled Lan until their faces were close enough for him to press their lips together in a light kiss. It wasn’t really a sexual act, more a confirmation that they were both here, together and with no permanent damage. 

Rolling back over onto his back, Sean pulled Lan with him. Giving a deep sigh, Lan relaxed against him. In no time they were both asleep.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Epilogue time!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for follwing this story and apologies for the erractic posting schedule - we've been attempting some major rebuilding work on our house and weekends tend to be very busy. Unfortuanely this will continue for the foreseeable future (at least until the end of May) so posting is definitely going to be less frequent until then.

The alarm call came far too early but despite that Sean woke easily. If he was truthful he had to admit that he was pleased they were on their way home. As much as he had enjoyed their stay in New York, he was quite looking forward to getting back to familiar territory.

Lan mumbled and turned towards him.

“What?” Sean asked.

“I said, how long until McCall gets here to pick us up?”

Sean glanced over at the clock on the bedside table nearest him. “About an hour.”

Lan levered himself up so that he was resting on one elbow, beside Sean. “And we’re all packed and ready to go apart from a shower?”

“Yep.” Sean couldn’t help grinning, he had a good idea how Lan’s mind was working.

He had less than a second to appreciate Lan’s brilliant smile before he disappeared under the covers, sliding down Sean’s body to take his cock in his mouth.

Having woken half hard it took no time at all for Sean’s cock to spring to full attention. Knowing that Lan’s talented mouth would have him coming very quickly, Sean reached down under the blanket with his good hand. Finding Lan’s hand where it was resting on his hip, he tugged upwards until Lan’s head appeared from under the covers.

He looked flushed and a little breathless when Sean pulled him down for a searing kiss. Tasting himself on Lan’s lips only increased Sean’s desire.

They broke apart for a moment and Lan gasped, “What can you do with your arm like that?”

Knowing that Lan would welcome anything he suggested, Sean decided to be self-indulgent. “I want you inside me. But quickly, I don’t know how long I can hang on.”

“Okay,” Lan answered breathlessly, as he reached over to the bedside table, finding the lube at once and squeezing some out onto his fingers. He prepared Sean quickly, avoiding any extra stimulation.

Kneeling between his legs, Lan entered him slowly. When he touched bottom he waited for Sean to let him know he was ready to continue. Even though it wasn’t as usual for Sean to bottom, it had happened often enough for him to know how wonderful it could feel, particularly when the one topping knew what to do to make it good.

In moments they had established a good rhythm which suited them both. Missing any stimulation on his cock, Sean reached down and, putting his hand behind Lan’s neck, pulled him forward so that he was mostly lying over Sean, trapping his neglected cock between their bodies. The sensation of skin rubbing against him and Lan’s accurate jabs against his prostate was all the stimulation he needed and soon Sean could feel his balls tightening with his impending climax. He barely had time to grab Lan’s arse and hold him close before he was coming, spilling his semen between their bodies. Tensing his internal muscles, Sean felt Lan’s seed spurting inside him until, with a groan, he went limp. Lan was no better, collapsing down against him with a moan of satisfaction.

After a few moments, when he could speak nearly normally he said, “God, I love being inside you.” He seemed to consider for a moment, “but then I love it when you’re inside me too.”

“That’s good then. Means you’re easy to please,” Sean whispered.

“Yeah,” Lan laughed, “but so are you.”

“Is that a bad thing?” Sean replied through a jaw cracking yawn.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Within the hour they had checked out of the hotel and were waiting in the foyer for Robert McCall and their promised ride to the airport. They’d only been waiting for five minutes when the familiar black Jaguar car pulled up outside and the uniformed doorman carried their suitcases through the revolving door of the hotel, putting them, one at a time, into the boot of the car. Sean handed the man some coins before bending down to look inside the car.

McCall was waiting in the driver’s seat but the other front seat was empty. Before Sean could ask where Mickey was, McCall spoke. “Mickey sends his apologies but he’s rather busy this morning with family commitments. He asked me to wish you a Merry Christmas and a good journey home. He said he hopes to meet you both again.”

Sean nodded and gestured to Lan to see if he wanted to take the front seat. When he shook his head, Sean got in instead.

With it being so early there was little traffic about and in a little more than thirty minutes, McCall was dropping them off outside the terminal building at JFK airport. They all got out of the car together and walked around to the boot so that they could get their baggage out. McCall opened the lid and Lan reached inside and pulled out their cases one at a time. 

Sean jumped when Robert turned and let out a piercing whistle, waving his hand at a passing porter. The man rushed forward and took the cases from Lan, loading them onto a small trolley. “British Airways flight 77 to London. First class check-in desk.” McCall said.

Sean looked at him in amazement. “First class?”

“Well it’s the least Jeff could do considering how you helped to capture Wells and his friends. Jeff hopes your experience will not tarnish your memories of your visit here and that you will be back soon.” McCall handed Sean an envelope. “Your tickets.”

“I’m sure it won’t.” Sean took the envelope and shook McCall’s hand. “Thank you, Robert, for all you’ve done for us. Lan and I owe you and Mickey an awful lot.”

“Nonsense. It was the least I could do. And without your help a dangerous group of men would still be at large. I think you’ve more than repaid the little help I was able to give.”

Lan took his hand and shook it. “Thank you, Robert. You helped keep Sean safe and that means a lot to me.”

“You’re welcome, Lando. Go on, get on your plane and have a wonderful Christmas with your family and friends. I wish you all the best for the future.”

They stood watching, with the porter waiting patiently beside them as McCall drove away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Travelling first class certainly had its advantages as they were whisked through the check in process with minimal fuss and soon found themselves in a comfortable lounge area. They were able to get some coffee and pastries to keep themselves going until their flight was called. As first class passengers they were also allowed to board the plane first and directed forwards to large, comfortable, leather seats.

While they were waiting for the plane to fill with the remaining passengers, the flight crew came around offering glasses of champagne. 

Sean sipped at the drink appreciatively. 

Meanwhile, Lan had been looking around them with interest as a few more passengers joined them in the first class cabin but by the time the plane had left the gate to begin taxiing, it was still mostly empty.

The seatbelt sign had been switched off and they were able to move to the bar on the upper deck and were sitting enjoying a second glass of champagne along with some snacks with smoked salmon, when Lan leant over and whispered in Sean’s ear. “Hey, Sean, what do you think? Do you want to join the mile high club?”

“What? You’ve got to be kidding. Remember on the way out? Those toilets were too small to swing a cat. Besides, you always make far too much noise.”

“I can be quiet, given the incentive.” Lan smirked. “Anyway I’m going to investigate.”

With a smile Lan patted Sean on the knee and made his way over to the toilet right at the front of the bar area.

When he came back a few minutes later he was grinning.

“What?” Sean said suspiciously.

“Just thought you ought to know that there’s enough room to swing several cats in there,” Lan said with a wicked grin. “And there are two cubicles; no one will notice if we are both in the same one!”

“Jesus! You’re serious! Lan we can’t.” Despite his protests Sean was intrigued by the idea and parts of his anatomy were already reacting to the thought of fucking Lan in such a public place.

“Of course we can. We just have to avoid getting caught.” Lan drained his glass and put it down. His eyes lowered until they were focused on the bulge in Sean’s trousers. “Methinks you protest too much, Mr Bean. Parts of you are clearly interested. If you follow me in a couple of minutes, I’ll be waiting to unwrap my Christmas present.”

Sean watched as he walked away. He waited for a few moments before draining his glass. What the heck? It was Christmas after all.

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't seen the recent movie of The Equalizer so this story is based solely on the TV series.


End file.
